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Anderson's Historical Series. 



History 



ROME. 



AMPLY ILLUSTRATED WITH 

Maps, Plans, and Engravings. 



/ BY 

RfF. LEIGHTON, Ph.D. (lips.), 

Author of '''Critical History of Cicero's Letters ad Familiar es* 
"Latin Lessons" "Greek Lessons" Etc* 



w l&197"Z$y 



NEW YORK: 

Clark & Maynard, Publishers, 

5 Bakclay Street. 

1879. 

1 



Anderson's Historical Series. 



A Junior Class History of the United States. 

Illustrated with hundreds of portraits, views, maps, etc. 272 pages. 16mo. 

A Grammar School History of the United States. 

Annotated ; and illustrated with numerous portraits and views, and with more than 
forty maps, many of which are colored. 340 pp. 16mo. 

A Pictorial School History of the United States. 

Fully illustrated with maps, portraits, vignettes, etc. 420 pp. 12mo. 

A Manual of General History, illustrated with numerous* 

engravings and with beautifully colored maps showing the changes in the political divi- 
sions of the world, and giving the location of important places. 488 pp. 12mo. 

A School History Of England. Illustrated with numerous 
engravings and with colored maps showing the geographical changes in the country at 
different periods. 332 pp. 12mo. 

A School History Of France. Illustrated with numerous 
engravings, colored and uncolored maps. 373 pp. 12mo. 

A History OI JtvOme. Amply illustrated with maps, plans, and 
engravings. 544 pp. 12mo. By K. F. Leighton, Ph. D. (Lips.). 

A School History of Greece, in preparation. 
Anderson's Bloss's Ancient History, illustrated with 

engravings, colored maps and a chart. 445 pp. 12mo. 

1 lie JrllStOriCal JKeader, embracing selections in prose and verse, 
from standard writers of Ancient and Modern History ; with a Vocabulary of Difficult 
Words, and Biographical and Geographical Indexes. 12mo. 544 pp. 

1 he United otateS JtveadCI, embracing selections from eminent 
American historians, orators, statesmen and poets, with explanatory observations, 
notes, etc. The whole arranged so as to fo-ma complete class-manual of United States 
History, to which are added a Vocabulary of Difficult Words and a Biographical Index 
of Authors. Illustrated with colored Historical maps. 12mo. 414 pp. 






Copyright, 1878, by Clark & Maynard. 



Electrotyped by Smith 8c McDougal, 82 Beekman St., Nevy York. 



/ 



/n 



PREFACE. 



~T~Y7"ITHIN the last twenty-five years historical criticism 
VV has made nowhere greater advances than in the his- 
tory of Eome. Aside from a more careful and critical exam- 
ination of the ancient authors, many other departments of 
study bearing directly or indirectly on Eoman history have 
within that period been begun and pursued with the most 
gratifying results. Great progress has been made in the study 
of comparative philology and that of the Italian dialects. 1 
The inscriptions 2 for the time of the republic and the em- 
pire, as well as those in the provinces and in the city of 
Eome itself, have been collected and edited, and they have 
served in very many cases to correct or supplement the 
statements of ancient writers. The excavations 3 that have 
been made at Eome and Pompeji 4 have settled many disputed 
questions of topography and brought to light inscriptions 5 
that have added to our knowledge of the manners and cus- 
toms and private life of the Romans. In fact, within twenty- 
five years the whole subject of Roman history has been 
reviewed in the light of these accessory means of informa- 
tion, and very important contributions have been added to our 
knowledge of the regal period and the early republic, 6 of the 
internal history in the time of the republic, 7 of the organ- 
ization of the senate and the popular assemblies, 8 of the con- 
quest of Italy and the manner in which the subject states 

1 Those of Lower Italy, edited by Mommsen in 1850 : the Sabellian and Oscan, by 
Huschke in 1856, and the Etruscan and Oscan, by Corssen in 1874. 

2 Edited by Ritschl, Mommsen, Henzen, and others, 1863-74. 

3 Begun by Can'ma, but soon discontinued ; resumed by the Italian government, 
under the supervision of Pietro Rosa, in 1871. * Overbeds. 

5 Used by Dr. Henzen and Jordan, the first part of the first volume of whose work on 
Roman topography appeared in 1878. 

6 Mommsen, Lange, Schwegler, Clason, Rubino, Peter, and Ihne. 

7 Drumann, Mommsen, and Lange. 8 Mommsen, Lange, and Rubino. 



Yl PREFACE. 

were governed, 1 of the influence of oriental conquests and of 
Hellenism on the Eoman character, 2 of Grecian philosophy and 
the Eoman religion, 3 of the provincial system 4 and the mili- 
tary organization, 5 of the history of the empire, 6 the revival of 
the study of philosophy, 7 the influx of oriental forms of wor- 
ship, 8 the revival of Paganism and the spread of Christianity. 
In short, all who have busied themselves with the subject are 
aware how valuable and interesting the contributions to Eo- 
man history have been, and how few of them have found their 
way into our school-books on that subject. The aim of the 
present volume is to treat Eoman history in the light of the 
most recent investigations, and to present the results so far as 
they have been unanimously accepted by scholars in a form 
suitable for school instruction. 

The various subjects have been worked up after a careful 
and critical study of the original as well as the latest and best 
modern authorities. Besides a general obligation to many 
works on Eoman history and antiquities, I am especially in- 
debted to the published works and the private instruction of 
Professors Ludwig Lange and Georg Voigt, of the University 
of Leipsic. 

Statements have often been substantiated by notes and 
references to ancient and modern authorities, but the object 
in these cases was more to suggest the means for additional 
reading and investigation than to introduce scientific informa- 
tion. 

The book has been prepared on the theory that history is 
something more than mere biography and the records of bat- 
tles ; that it ought to set forth the connection of events, show- 
ing how each was the product of what preceded and the cause 
of what followed ; that it deals with the inner life of the 
people ; that its aim is, as it were, " to penetrate into the 
workshop of the national mind and watch the operations 



1 Mommsen and Marquardt. 2 Momm«en and Ihne. 

3 Preller. * Zumpt, Mommsen, Madvig, and others. 

5 Ktistow, Goler, Lange. Marquardt, and othe .*s. 

6 Walter, Kuhn, Rudorlf, and Mommsen's edition of the Monumentiim Ancyranum, 
1865. » Friedlander. 



PREFACE. Vll 

going on there." Hence an unusual amount of space for a 
book of this kind has been devoted to the study of the inter- 
nal government, the inner life, the religion, manners and cus- 
toms, the influence of foreign conquests and foreign religions, 
the provincial system, the military organization, military 
roads, etc. The space for this extra matter has been gained 
without enlarging the book so as to make it unserviceable for 
school use, by omitting details of battles and sieges and briefly 
indicating the results — a plan that was made possible without 
detracting from the value of the book, by the use of engrav- 
ings, plans and maps. 

The summaries have been prepared with a great deal of care, 
and although they have added somewhat to the size of the book, 
it is hoped that they will be found serviceable. If we leave the 
summaries, the space occupied by maps, engravings and notes, 
the chapter on military organization, which will be mainly for 
reference, except for advanced classes, and the chapter on man- 
ners and customs, out of consideration, the narrative is brought 
within the moderate compass of three hundred pages. 

Many interesting topographical details of the ancient city 
have been introduced, illustrated by maps, modified to cor- 
respond with what we have learned from the excavations. 

The whole book is amply illustrated with maps (mostly from 
Spruner's and Kiepert's Atlases), plans and numerous engrav- 
ings selected from Becker, Guhl and Goner, and others. 

The table of contents gives a complete analysis of the whole 
work. It is so arranged that it suggests topics as well as ques- 
tions for examination and review, and affords a full chrono- 
logical index of the whole volume. 

E. F. L. 

Brooklyn, N. Y., March, 1879. 



LIST OF MAPS AO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Roman Forum restored (Frontispiece). 

Map of N. Italy 2 

Map of Latium Vetus 4 

MapofLaly: No. 1 6-7 

Diagram of the Indo-European Lan- 
guages 10 

Diagram of Races in Italy 12 

Map of Rome : No. 2 . 16-17 

Cloaca Maxima 17 

Suovetaurillia 24 

Temple of Vesta 44 

Celtic Arms 77 

Map of Rome and vicinity 94 

Map of Naples and vicinity 98 

Sarcophagus of Scipio 101 

Plan of Tarentum 104 

Via Appia in its present condition Ill 

Map of Italy: No. 3 112-113 

Via Appia near Naples 113 

Channel of an Aqueduct 113 

Map of Carthage and her dependen- 
cies 116a 

Map of the city of Syracuse 119 

Columna Rostrata 122 

Map illustrating the Iliyrian Wars 130 

Route of Hannibal 136 

Plan of Cannae 141 

Map of the territory of Syracuse . . . . 146 
Map illustrating the Wars in the East, 157 

Map of Spain 175 

Siege of Numantia . . .• 178 

The Modern Capitol 199 

Temple of Concord restored • 213 

Map of Numidia and the old Province 

of Africa 217 

Map of the East in the times of Mithri- 

dates : No. 4 248-249 

Pompejus Magnus 267 

Marcus Tullius Cicero 288 

Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus restored, 300 
Gajus Julius Caesar. .... r .... , 301 



PAGE 

Map of Gaul in the time of Caesar : 

No. 5 308-309 

Plan of Caesar's Fortifications 309 

Map of the Provinces of Gaul 314 

Brundisium 327 

Gajus Octavius 345 

Map of Italy : No. 6 346-347 

Map of the regions of Italy 351 

Marcus Antonius 351 

Tactic Order of the Maniple 369 

Slinger, Legionary., Lictor, Knight 371 

Order of Battle 373 

Order of the Centuries 373 

Order of the Cohorts 374 

Defensive Order of the Legion 374 

Plan of the Camp 376 

Plan of Camp in the time of Caesar ... 377 

Plan of the Tents of the Cohorts 379 

Catapulta 381 

Ballistae 381 

Besieging Tower 380 

Engines for Besieging a City 382 

Plan of Roman Forum in its present 

condition 384 

Plan of Roman Forum in times of the 

Early Republic 386 

The Atrium 387 

The Vestibule 388 

Plan of a Roman House 390 

Cooking Utensils 391 

Implements of Writing 402 

Tablets for Letters 403 

Covering for the Feet 405 

The Toga 405 

Dress of Women 406 

Empress Livia 406 

Baths of Caracalla 408 

Racing Chariots 409 

Gladiatorial Combat . . 410 

Flavian Amphitheatre in its present 

condition 412 



GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 



PAGE 

Theatre of Pompejus restored by 
Canina 441 

Plan of Roman Forum in time of the 

Empire 416 

Pantheon in its present condition 426 

Map of Germany 431 

Mausoleum of Augustus restored .... 438 
Map showiDg the extent of the Eoman 

Empire a. d. 23 439 

Tiberius 440 

Section of the Claudian Aqueduct com- 
pared with the triple aqueduct of 

Agrippa 447 

Nero 449 

Flavian Amphitheatre 454 



PAGE 

Arch of Titus 4 455 

Trajan 458 

Forum of Trajan 460 

Map showing the extent of the Roman 

Empire a. d. 120-170 461 

Mole of Hadrian 463 

Antoninus Pius , 465 

Aqueduct Pont du Guard 465 

Marcus Aurelius 400 

Alexander Severus 481 

Ruins of Palmyra . 43J 

Map of the Roman Empire in the time 

of Diocletian : No. 7 486-7 

Arch of Constantine 487 

Map of Gaul about a. d. 500 494 



GENEALOGICAL TABLE 

PAGE 

Of Demaratus of Corinth 45 

Of L. Caecilius Metellus 124 

Of Appius Claudius Csecus 125 

Of JEmilius Paulus 140 

Of L. Scipio 143 

Of M. Porcius Cato .189 

Of Tiberius Gracchus 202 

Of Masinissa 216 

Of M. Metellus Calvus 219 

Of M. Antonius, orator 228 

Of L. Licinius Crassus, orator 232 

Of M. Livius Drusus 234 

Of Cn. Pompejus 252 

Of Marcus Tullius Cicero 287 

Of A. Claudius Pulcher 306 

Of M. Porcius Cato Uticensis 334 

Of M. Antonius, triumvir — 343 

Of G Julius Caesar. . . 346 

Of Augustus 434 

Of Livia Drusillia 440 

Of Bassianus 483 



ANALYSIS. 



INTRODUCTION. 
I. Geography of Italy. 

PAGE 

Italy in early times 1 

Its divisions 1 

I. Northern Italy 1 

1. Liguria 3 

2. Gallia Cisalpina 3 

3. Venetia 3 

JI. Central Italy 3 

1. Etruria 3 

2. Latium : its two senses (see 
note) 3 

3. Campania 4 

4. Umbria 4 

5. Picenum 5 

6. Sabini 



Marsi 

Marrucini . 
Paeligni . . . 
Vestini 



- Sebellians 5 



11. Frentani . . . 

12. Samnium 5 

III. Southern Italy 5 

1. Lucania — 5 

2. Bruttii (see note) 6 

3. Apulia 6 

4. Calabria 6 

Mountain systems cf Italy 6 

The Campagna 7 

Its fertility — 7 

River systems of Italy 8 

Islands of Italy 8 

Position of Italy 8 

Its climate 9 

Its fertility 9 

II. Early Inhabitants* 

I. Iapygians 9 

II. Italiacs ... ? .,„,,,, T ,,, f ,,, M 9 



PAGE 

IIT. Etruscans 9 

Italians 9 

1. Latins 9 

2. Umbro-Sebellians 10 

Umbrians 10 

Sabini ] 

Samnites Y Sebellians 10 

Picentes J 

Etruscans 11 

Their name — 11 

Their cities 11 

Their civilization 11 

Their influence on the Latins 12 

Their origin 12 

Unity of the races in Italy 12 

I. 
Foundation of Rome, B. C. 753. 

Latins 13 

Their primitive civilization 13 

Their language 13 

Comparison of words (note) ... 13 

Latins enter Italy 14 

Their social constitution 14 

Households 14 

Clans 14 

Villages 14 

Cantons 14 

Alba Longa 14 

Rome a Latin settlement . . . . 14 

The Cantons 

Its location 14 

The Palatine city 15 

Square Rome , 15 

Pomerium ,...,......, 15 

Sabine city , . , 15 

Union of the two cities ,,.,„„„'„ 15 

Curia ,,, , 15 

Quirites (note) . . , , , „ . 1§ 

Rome the capital of latium .,,,,,,; 1§ 



Xll 



ANALYSIS. 



PAGE 

The forum 16 

The hills IT 

The streets (note) 17 

Cloaca Maxima IT 

The comitium 17 

The rostra IT 

The capitol IT 

The senate-house 18 

Temple of Diana 18 

Temple of Jupiter 18 

II. 

Early Government of Rome. 

Form of government 18 

Modelled on the household 18 

The clan 18 

Tribes 18 

1. Ramnes 19 

2. Tities 19 

3. Luceres 19 

The king 19 

The senate 19 

Comitia curiata 19 

The army 20 

Patricians 20 

Clients . .' 20 

Slaves 21 

Plebeians . . 21 

The reform of Tarquinius Priscus „ 21 

The reform of Servius Tullius 22 

Division of Roman territory 22 

Classification of the population 22 

The army 22 

The census 22 

Five classes 22 

The armor of the different classes 23 

Comitia centuriata 23 

The legion 23 

The character of the constitution 24 

The Lustrum . . , 24 

m. 

Iiivy's History of the Regal Period. 

Other authorities 25 

Early records 25 

Oral tradition 25 

Origin of Rome 26 

Story of Romulus and Remus 26 

Rome founded 2T 

War with the Latins 27 

War with the Sabines 28 

Union of Romans and Sabines 28 

ConstitutiQU ascribed to Romulus, 29 



PAGE 

Numa Pompilius 30 

Ancus Marcius 30 

Tarquinius Priscus SO 

Servius Tullius 30 

Tarquinius Superbus 30 

The value of Livy's narrative 30 

Other sources 31 

1. Excavations 31 

2. Comparative philology , . 31 

3. Physical geography 31 

The results 32 

IV. 

Religion of the Romans, 

Its general character : three periods x . . 33 

Worship of Italian deities (Faunus), . . . S3 

Lupercalian feast S4 

Various forms of worship 34 

Jupiter and Mars 34 

Quirinus 35 

State religion 35 

Worship of Vesta 36 

Jupiter Capitolinus 3T 

The Colleges of Sacred Lore 39 

Second period : Grecian influence 38 

Sibylline books 38 

Divination 38 

Auspicies 39 

Art of the haruspices 42 

Other ceremonies 42 

The character of the Roman religion . . 43 

Causes of its decline 44 

V. 

Attempts of Tarquinius to Regain 
the Royal Power, 

The legendary narrative (note) 45 

First attempt 46 



1 In the first period (from the foundation 
of the Roman state until the time of Tar- 
quinius Priscus) Italian deities alone were 
worshipped. The second period extends to 
nearly the end of the Second Punic War. 
During this period new forms of worship 
were introduced ; the old patriarchal and 
priestly character of the constitution gave 
way before the influence of civilization 
and intercourse with foreign nations. The 
third period extended to the time of Augus- 
tus. During this time the state religion lost 
its hold on men's minds. 



ANALYSIS. 



Xlll 



PAGE 

Second attempt 47 

Third attempt ... 43 

Battle of Lake Regillus 43 

Credibility of this narrative 49 



VI. 
Establishment of the Republic. 

B. C. 

509. The power (imperium) returns 

to the fathers 50 

Interregnum declared 50 

Spurius Lucretius interrex . . 50 

Consuls elected 50 

Publius Valerius 51 

Comitia centuriata a legislative 

assembly 51 

Comitia centuriata the army 

(note) 51 

Patrician influence 52 

Tributum 52 

Popular measures . . . 52 

Vacancies in the senate filled. . . 52 

508. Valerian laws 52 

. First dictator 54 



VII. 

Rich and Poor. — Tribunes of the 
People. 



494. 



Condition of the plebeians 

The plebeians oppressed by debt, 

Patricians and plebeians 

The conservative element 

Clandian gens 

Law of debtor and creditor (note, 

P. 56) 

Sufferings of the poor 

Public land 

Eight of appeal 

The object of the plebeians 

The first crisis 

Its cause 

First secession 

M' Valerius 

The sacred mount 

The lex sacrata 

Tribunes of the plebs 

Their original powers (note) 

The first plebiscitum 

Second plebiscitum 

Plebeian aediles 



vm. 

Development of the Power of the 
Tribunes. — Agrarian Agitations. 

B. C. PAGE 

491. The story of Coriolanus 59 

The Volscians 60 

The position of the tribunes 60 

The public land 60 

How managed 61 

486. The Agrarian law of S. Cassius, 62 

The three parties in the state ... 62 

The policy of the Fabian house, 63 

Their slaughter at the Cremera, 63 

471. The Publilian law 63 

Its importance (note) 63 

Arrogance of Appius Claudius. . 64 

Legislation (note) 64 

Comitia centuriata.. 

Comitia curiata 

Concilium tributum 
plebis 

Comitia tributa 

LeXy scitum % rogatio, 



(note), 64 



IX. 

The Decemvirs and the Laws of 
the Twelve Tahles. 

Efforts of the plebeians to obtain 

written code of laws 65 

The Terentilian Rogation 65 

Opposition of the patricians 65 

Violence of Kaeso Quinctius 

(note) 65 

Herdonius seizes the capitol 

(note) 65 

The Aventine given up to the 

plebeians 66 

45 4. Appointment of the commission- 
ers 67 

They visit Athens 67 

451. Decemvirs appointed 67 

The Twelve Tables of Roman 

Law 67 

Their character 68 

450. Decemvirs re-elected 68 

Their tyranny 68 

449. They continue in office 69 

Murder of Sicinius Dentatus 69 

Death of Virginia 69 

Second secession 70 

Resignation of the decemvirs ... 70 

Valerio-Horatian laws 70 



XIV 



ANALYSIS. 



B. C. PAGE 

Increased powers of the . trib- 
unes 71 

Quaestors elected by the people, 71 



X. 

The plebeian opposition. 71 

The plebeian nobility 72 

The Canuleian law 72 

Military tribunes l with consular 

powers,' 72 

Censors appointed 73 

Their duties 73 

Spurius Maelius 74 

Quaestorship opened to the ple- 
beians 74 



445. 



440 
421 



XI. 

Wars with Neighboring Nations. 
—Sack of Rome hy the Ganls. 

Yolscians and iEquians 75 

396. Conquest of Veji .^ 75 

Pay given to the soldiers 76 

Gauls, or Celts 76 

Their nomadic character . . . 76 

They enter Italy 76 

390. Capture of Rome 76 

The narrative of Livy ; that of 

Polybius (note) 77 

Distress of the poor 77 

Rate of interest 77 

384. Death cf Manlius 78 

Further Gallic wars (note) 78 

xn. 

The Equalization of the Orders. 

Condition of the plebeians 79 

376. The Licinian Rogations 79 

Opposition of the patricians 89 

366. Licinian Rogations adopted ... 80 

L. Sextius first plebeian consul, 80 

The office of praetor created 80 

His duties 81 

Meaning of the word populus. . 81 
Further progress of the plebe- 
ians 81 

The Temple of Concord 81 

Roman games 81 

356. First plebeian dictator ...» 81 

351. First plebeian censor 81 

336. First plebeian praetor 81 

300, The Ogulnian ,...,.... .....,, 81 



B. C. PAGE 

Number of pontiffs and augurs 

increased 81 

XIII. 

Continued Agitation. — Mutiny of 
B. C. 342— The Puhlilian and 
Hortensian Laws. 

Political equality 82 

Rate of interest 82 

342. Mutiny of b. c. 342 82 

The Genucian law (note) 82 

The plebeians appeased 83 

339. The Publilian laws 83 

Their character 83 

The changes effected by these 

laws (note) 83 

The Hortensian laws 84 

The character of these laws 85 

The nobility still control legisla- 
tion 85 

The plebiscitum Msenium (note) , 85 

XTV. 

People and Government. — The 
Hise of* the New IVohility. 

The condition of the people 85 

Commerce and war 85 

Political equality 86 

The new nobility 86 

The popular assemblies 86 

Comiiia centuriata 86 

Comitia tributa 86 

Concilium tributum 86 

The citizens 86 

The members of the tribes 87 

309. Innovation of A. Claudius 87 

304. His arrangement reversed by 

Fabius and Decius 87 

The consular power 87 

How weakened 88 

The senate 88 

Its powers 88 

Its members 88 

Vacancies — '. 88 

Its place of meeting (note) — 88 

How summoned (note> 88 

How business was conducted 

(note) 88 

Its original powers 89 

Its aristocratic character. 89 

The general character of the 

government .,, t 89 



ANALYSIS. 



XT 



XV. 
Conquest of Italy. 

B. C. PAGE 

The Samnites 93 

Their history 93 

The Ver Sacrum (note) 93 

The Samnites of the mountains 
attack Teanum, a city of the 

Sidicini 95 

The Campanians assist the 

Sidicini 95 

They are defeated by the Sam- 
nites 95 

The assistance of Rome is solic- 
ited 

343. The First Samnite War . . . 95 
Success of the Romans 95 

341. Conclusion of peace 95 

340. The revolt of the Latin League, 95 

Treaty with the Samnites 95 

The battle at Mt. Vesuvius 96 

Self-sacrifice of Decius (note) ... 96 
Capture of Antium 96 

338. Conclusion of the war 96 

Terms of peace 97 

326. The Second Samnite War.. 97 

Its cause 97 

War declared 98 

The first period 98 

321 . The Caudine Forks 99 

Success of the Samnites 99 

311. War with the Etruscans 99 

310. Battle-at the Vadimonian Lake, 99 
The Samnites defeated 100 

304. Peace concluded 100 

The results of the war 100 

298. The TJiircl Samnite War.. 100 

Its cause . . 100 

An alliance of the Samnites and 
the Etruscans 101 

295. The battle of Sentinum 101 

The epitaph of Scipio (note) ... 101 
G. Pontius taken prisoner 102 

290. The conclusion of peace 1C2 

Colonies established 102 

283. War with the Gauls and the 

Etruscans 102 

283. Battle of the Vadimonian Lake, 103 
War with the Lucanians 103 

283. Most of the Greek towns sub- 
mit 103 

Condition of the Italian Greeks, 103 

Tarentum 104 

The Romans assist the Thurians, 104 

%%%, Roman fleet attacked by the 

Tarentines .....,.,..,.,...., 104 



B. C. PAGE 

Roman embassy sent to Taren- 
tum (note) 105 

281. Wardeclared 105 

The Tarentines apply to Pyr- 

rhus 105 

280. The arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy, 105 

Battle of Heraclea 105 

Remarks of Pyrrhus on the bat- 
tle 106 

Embassy of Cineas to Rome 106 

279. Battle of Asculum 106 

Alliance of Rome and Carthage, 107 
278. Pyrrhus retires to Sicily 107 

His arbitrary rule in Sicily 108 

276. Returns to Italy , 108 

274. Battle of Beneventum 108 

266. Conquest of Italy 108 

The manner in which Rome 
ruled her subjects . 1C9 

The population classified 109 

I. Roman citizens 109 

1. Of the thirty-three tribes, 109 

2. Of the Roman colonies . . 

II. Cives sine suffragio 109 

III. Theallies./ 110 

Colonization 110 

Military roads Ill 

Appian Way Ill 

Flaminian Way Ill 

JEmilian Way Ill 

Aqueducts Ill 

Appian Aqueduct 112 

Anio Vetus 112 

The military system 113 

XVI. 
First Punic War, B. C. 264-241. 

Carthage 117 

Its prosperity 117 

Its trade : 117 

Its government 118 

Relative strength of Rome and 

Carthage = 118 

Conquest of Messana by the 

Mamertines 119 

The Mamertines appeal to Rome, 119 

Siege of Messana 120 

264. Appius Claudius sent to Mes- 
sana 120 

He defeats the Carthaginians 

and Syracusans 120 

263. Hiero makes peace with Rome, 120 

262. Capture of Agrigentum . . 120 

260. The first Roman fleet ..,....„, 181 



XVI 



ANALYSIS. 



B. C. PAGE 

260. Naval victory off Mylae 121 

The plan of the campaign 120 

256. Invasion of Africa 122 

256. Naval victory 123 

255. Defeat of Eegulus 123 

Destruction of Soman fleet by a 

storm 123 

254. The capture of Panormus 124 

250. The battle at Panormus 124 

Embassy of the Carthaginians 

to Rome 125 

Siege of Lilybseum 125 

249. Defeat of Claudius 125 

Destruction of the Roman fleet 

by a storm 126 

247. Hamilcar Barcas appointed gen- 
eral 126 

He takes a position at Mount 

Eryx 126 

241. Battle at the ^Egatian islands.. 126 

Peace with Carthage 127 

Terms of the peace 127 



XVII. 

Events between the First and 
Second Pnnic Wars. — The Pro- 
vincial System. — The Illyrian 
Wars. — Wars with the Gauls. 

240-238. War with the Mercenaries 127 

The Provincial System 128 

238. Sardinia and Corsica a province 128 

The praetor ' 128 

Taxes ■. 128 

Hamilcar Barcas goes to Spain 128 
229-228. The Jfirst Illyrian 

War 128 

Its cause 128 

229. Queen Teuta compelled to sub- 
mit 129 

Demetrius of Pharos 129 

232. The Agrarian law of G. Flamin- 

ius 129 

The senate resists the law 129 

The Flaminian way 129 

225-222. The Gallic War 129 

Its cause 131 

Terror at Rome , 131 

225. The battle of Telamon 131 

218. Roman colonies 131 

Cremona 131 

Placentia 131 

219. The Second Illyrian War 132 
Demetrius of Pharos 132 



PAGE 

Pharos destroyed 132 

Demetrius flees to Macedonia. .. 132 



XVIII. 

Second Punic War, B. C. 218-201. 

Carthaginian policy 132 

The popular party 132 

236. Hamilcar in Spain 132 

228 . Hasdrubal in Spain 133 

New Carthage founded 133 

Rome forms an alliance with 

Saguntum. 133 

221 . Death of Hasdrubal 133 

219. Hannibal chief commander 133 

Siege of Saguntum 133 

Its capture 133 

Roman embassy 133 

War declared 133 

Comparative strength of Rome 

and Carthage 134 

Preparations of Hannibal 134 

218. He crosses the Ebro 134 

His march to the Rhone 134 

Arrival of Scipio at Massilia 135 

Hannibal crosses the Rhone . . . 135 
Scipio sends his brother to Spain 135 

Hannibal's route 135 

His arrival in Northern Italy. . . 135 

Skirmish on the Ticinus 136 

Battle at the Trebia 137 

21 7. Hannibal crosses the Apennines 137 
The Romans defeated at Lake 

Trasimenus 137 

Great consternation at Rome. . . 138 
Fabius Maximus appointed dic- 
tator 133 

Plans of Hannibal 138 

The policy of Fabius 138 

The Romans dissatisfied 139 

The firmness of the Romans . 139 

216. Battle of Cannce 140 

Plan of the battle 141 

Great defeat of the Romans 141 

Heroic spirit of the people 142 

Fall of Capua. 142 

New difficulties beset Hannibal 142 

218. War in Spain 143 

The Scipio s carry on the war 

with energy 144 

The battle at Ibera 144 

Preparations of tlie Romans 144 

Plan of the war 144 

214-210 . War in Sicily 145 



ANALYSIS. 



XV11 



B. C. PAGE 

212. Capture of Syracuse 145 

2 1 5-206. War in Spain 147 

Hasdrubal forms an alliance 

with Gula 147 

Defeat of the Romans 147 

210. P. Cornelius Scipio sent to 

Spain 147 

Success of Scipio 148 

207. Capture of New Carthage ...... 148 

Departure of Hasdrubal 148 

206. Conquest of Spain 148 

Scipio and Syphax 148 

214-206. War in Italy 149 

211. The war centres around Capua 

and Tarentum 149 

Romans recover Capua 149 

209. Romans recover Tarentum 149 

208 . Defeat and death of Marcellus . . 150 
Movements of Hasdrubal 150 

207* He crosses the Alps 150 

March of Nero 151 

Battle of Metaurus 151 

Defeat and death of Hasdrubal 151 
Hannibal retires to Bruttium ... 151 

Scipio elected consul 152 

His plan to compel Hannibal to 
evacuate Italy 152 

204. War in Africa 152 

Scipio's first successes 153 

Efforts for peace 153 

202. Battle of Zmna 154 

Defeat of Hannibal 154 

201 . Terms of peace 154 

Scipio's triumph 154 

Results of the war 155 

Roman policy 155 

New colonies 155 

Military roads 155 



XIX. 

The Conquest of the East— 214- 
146. 

The condition of the East 156 

Macedonia 156 

Syria 156 

Egypt 156 

Free Greek cities 158 

Byzantium 158 

Cyzicus 158 

Rhodes 158 

The Achaean League 158 

The JStolian League 158 



b. c. PAGE 

214-205. The First 31acedonlan 

War ... 158 

Its cause 159 

Its indecisive character 159 

200-196. Second Macedonian 

Mar 159 

Its cause 160 

197. Battle of Cynocephalae 160 

Terms of peace 163 

192-190. Syro-Mtollan War. . 161 

Antiochus 161 

Intrigues of the iEtolians 161 

Hannibal expelled from Car- 
thage 161 

Antiochus crosses over to Greece 162 ■- 

191. His defeat at Thermopylae 162 

His retreat to Asia Minor 162 

190. The Romans follow and defeat 

him at Magnesia 162 

189. The ^Etolian war , . . 162 

Battle at Ambracia 163 

The Achaean League 163 

171-1 68. Third Macedonian 

War 163 

Policy of Rome towards Mace- 
donia 163 

178. Death of Philip 163 

Condition of Greece 164 

Rome determines to take the 
government into her own 

hands 164 

1 68. Battle of Pydna , 164 

How Macedonia was governed 164 
Treatment of the other Greek 

states 165 

The Achaean League 166 

147-146. The Achcean War.... 168 

149. Corinth captured and destroyed 166 

Cause of its destruction 166 

Macedonia a Roman province. . 167 

149-146. T7ie Third runic War 167 

Roman policy 167 

Condition of Carthage 168 

150. War with Masinissa 169 

Rome interferes 169 

Determination to destroy Car- 
thage 170 

Siege of Carthage 170 

146. Its capture and destruction 170 

Africa a Roman province 171 

The Roman empire 171 

Cause of Rome's success 172 

Situation of Rome 173 

Secondary causes . , 173 

200-153. Spanish Wars 174 



XV111 



ANALYSIS. 



B. C. PAGE 

195. Marcus Porcius Cato sent to 

Spain 174 

The Spanish governors 175 

The Spanish service disagreeable 175 

154. War with the Celtiberians 175 

150. War in Lusitania 176 

Viriathus 176 

143-133. The Kuman tine War.. 177 

Its cause 177 

Its character 177 

134. Scipio sent to Spain 177 

Siege of Numantia 179 

133. Destruction of Numantia 179 

129. Province of Asia 179 

Increase of slavery 179 

134-133. Servile War 180 

The success of the insurrection 180 
Eupilius brings the war to a 
close 180 

XX. 

The Internal Government. 

The provinces 181 

When acquired 182 

How governed 182 

The governors receive no salary, 182 

Their exactions 182 

Titles and insignia 183 

The Italian allies 184 

The Latins 184 

The Italians 184 

Their burdens 184 

Roman citizens 184 

Then rights 184 

Eight of appeal 184 

The revenue 185 

Exemption from taxation 185 

Formation of new parties 185 

The new nobility 185 

The people 185 

Elections 185 

Bribery at elections 185 

The initiative of the senate . . 185 

Curule magistracies 185 

External insignia 185 

Noble families 185 

The aim of the nobility 185 

The senate 188 

The equites 1S6 

The censors 186 

The public assemblies 187 

The voters 187 

The rabble 187 

Condition of the people 187 



B. C PAGE 

The condition of the Italians. . . 187 
Influence of foreign conquests, 188 

Largesses of corn 188 

232. The Agrarian of Flaminius 188 

218. The Claudian law 189 

Reform in the order of voting 

(note) 189 

The number of centuries (note) 189 

The ballot (note) 189 

Cato's efforts for reform 189 

His early life 189 

His habits 189 

His service in the army 189 

He resists the appeal of the Op- 

pian law 190 

Prosecution of the two Scipios, 190 

195. Censorship of Cato 191 

His parsimony (n. 4) 191 

The general character of the 

government 191 

Its stability 192 

The decline of the government 

gradual 192 

Hellenic influences 392 

The character of the Greeks 192 

Luxury 192 

Immorality 192 

Indolence 192 

Literature 192 

Cato's opposition 192 

Justness of Cato's opposition . . 192 

Philosophy and religion 193 

Epicurean philosophy 193 

New Academy 193 

Stoic philosophy 193 

Compromise between philoso- 193 

phy and religion . . 193 

The new state religion 193 

The " Scipionic " circle 193 

Oriental forms of worship 19S 

Laws of repression 193 

They become domesticated in 193 

Italy 183 

Slave labor 193 

Farming on a large scale 194 

The importation of corn 194 

Price of corn (note) 194 

The importation of com com- 
pelled farming on a large scale 

to be abandoned • 194 

The Claudian law 194 

Its effect 194 

Roman merchants 194 

The tendency of legislation — 194 
Moneyed aristocracy 194 



ANALYSIS. 



XIX 



XXI. 
The Gracchi, B. C. 133-121. 

C. • PAGE 

The condition of the state 199 

The necessity for reform 200 

The government controlled by 

the nobility 201 

The aim of the nobility (note) . . 201 
The decrease in the population 

(note) , 201 

Tiberius Gracchus 201 

His connections 202 

1 7 . Quaestor in Spain 202 

His alienation from the oligar- 
chy 202 

; 3 . His measures for reform 202 

Opposition of the landowners.. 203 

Deposition of Octavius 203 

The law enacted and commis- 
sioners appointed 204 

Efforts to re-elect G. Tiberius . . 205 

Murder of Tiberius 205 

,9. Death of Scipio 206 

,6. Expulsion of the allies from 

Kome 207 

5. Revolt of Fragellse 208 

,3. G. Gracchus elected tribune .. . 208 

His legislation 209 

Largesses of corn 209 

Change in the mode of taxa- 
tion in the provinces 209 

Extension of the Agrarian 

law 210 

Soldiers equipped at public 

expense . . ... 210 

The judicial power transferred 

to knights 210 

Limitation of the power of the 

senate 210 

2. Gajus re-elected tribune 211 

4 He proposes to confer the fran- 
chise on the Latins 211 

Reaction against his laws 211 

Drusus outbids Gajus for the 

popular favor 211 

Gajus declines in popularity. . . 212 
1. His death 213 

XXII. 

Rule of the Oligarchy. 

The Agrarian law not enforced, 214 

Corruption of the government, 215 

8. Troubles in Numidia 216 



B. c. 
117. 



111. 



110. 



108. 



107. 
106. 



105. 
104. 
102. 
101. 



100. 



91 
90. 

90. 

89. 



PAGE 

Jugurtha usurps the govern- 
ment 217 

The Romans declare war 217 

Jugurtha bribes the consul 218 

Treaty 218 

Indignation at Rome 218 

Renewal of the war 218 

Metellus defeats Jugurtha 219 

Rise of Marius 219 

Elected consul 220 

The people give him the com- 
mand in Africa 221 

He arrives in Africa 221 

Jugurtha defeated and taken 

prisoner 221 

The condition of the provinces 

at the north 221 

Incompetency of the Roman 

government . 222 

The Cimbri and Teutones 222 

Battle of Arausio 222 

Marius re-elected consul 222 

The Teutones defeated 223 

The Cimbri defeated 224 

The condition at home 225 

Social distress 225 

Slavery 225 

The people look to Marius to 

remedy the evils 226 

He is no politician 

He fails under the control of 

demagogues 227 

The laws of Saturninus 227 

Reaction against Marius 229 

Saturninus put to death 229 

Evidences of decline in the 

state 229 

Superstition 230 

How the oligarchy governed the 

allies 231 

The wrongs of the allies 231 

The senate and equestrian order, 203 

The tribunate of Drusus 233 

His measures for reform 234 

His death 235 

The revolt of the allies 235 

They organize a new govern- 
ment 236 

The first year of the war 237 

The Romans make concessions, 237 

The lex Julia 237 

The lex Plautia Papiria 237 

The Yarian prosecutions 238 

The allies lay down their arms, 239 
The conditions of peace 239 



XX 



ANALYSIS. 



B. C. PAGE 

The financial crisis 240 

Dispute between Marius and 
Sulla for the command in the 

East 241 

88. Marius courts the favor of the 

allies 241 

The Sulpician laws 242 

Sulla goes to Rome to prevent 

the passage of these laws 242 

Sulpicius put to death 243 

Marius flies from Rome 243 

Sulla's legislation 243 

The wanderings of Marius 244 

The Marian party regain power, 245 

Marius returns to Rome 245 

The proscription of the nobles, 245 
The seventh consulship of Ma- 
rius 246 

His death 246 

Valerius Flaccus consul 246 

The condition of the East 247 

Accession of Mithridates 247 

His plans of conquest 247 

His disputes with the Romans . . 24S 

He invades Asia ' 248 

Massacre of Romans and Ital- 
ians 249 

Greece declares in favor of Mith- 
ridates 249 

Sulla lands in Greece 249 

Lays siege to Athens 250 

Victory at Choeronea 250 

Victory at Orchomenus 250 

Terms of peace 250 

Fimbria sent to supersede Sulla, 259 

Death of Fimbria 251 

Sulla returns to Italy. 251 

Crushes the Marian party „ 252 

Battle of Clusium 253 

Battle with the Samnites 253 

Sulla returns to Rome 254 

Proscription 254 

The rule of the senate restored, 253 

Sulla dictator 256 

His reforms in the constitution, 257 
Tribunes deprived of power . 257 

The lex annalis enforced 257 

The number of praetors and 

quaestors increased 257 

The senate 258 

The popular assemblies 258 

The priestly colleges 258 

The judicial system 258 

79. He resigns the dictatorship 260 

78. His death 260 



87. 



86. 



120. 



88. 



87. 



86. 

85. 
84. 



83. 

82. 
82. 



81. 



79. 
72. 
71. 
73. 

71. 



PAGE 

The rule of the oligarchy grows 

more scandalous 261 

Condition of Italy and the prov- 
inces..., 261 

Increase of luxury 261 

The opposition 262 

Insurrection of Lepidus 262 

Condition in Spain 263 

The war with Sertorius 263 

Death of Sertorius 234 

End of the war in Spain 264 

War with the gladiators 264 

Success of Spartacus 255 

His defeat and death £66 

Pompejus cuts to pieces a body 
of gladiators 266 



xxin. 

Fall of the Oligarchy, B. C. 70. 

The popular party . 267 

70. Pompejus and Crassus elected 

consuls 268 

The powers of the tribunes re- 
stored 269 

The rule of the oligarchy in the 

provinces 269 

The abuses 270 

Verres 270 

His scandalous exactions 270 

His trial 271 

The Aurelian law 271 

The jurymen to be selected 
from the senators, knights 

and tribuni serarii 271 

The popularity of Pompejus ... 272 
The condition of Roman affairs, 272 

The pirates 273 

67. The Gabinian law 273 

Pompejus ends the war 275 

Roman power in the East 275 

83. Second Mithrldatic War.. 276 

82. Defeat of Murena 276 

74. Third Mithrldatic War ... 276 

Preparations of Murena. 276 

74. Mithridates besieges Cyzicus. . . 277 
His defeat 277 

7 1 . He retires to Armenia . . 277 

Lucullus settles the affairs of 

Asia 278 

Unpopularity of Lucullus 278 

69. Battle of Tigranocerta 278 

67. Mithridates returns to Pontus. . 278 



ANALYSIS. 



XXI 



66. 



65. 
64. 



63. 



PAGE 

Mutiny in the army of Lucullus, 279 
The command given to Glabrio, 280 

The Manilian law . . 2S0 

It is opposed by the oligarchy, 280 
Pompejus appointed comman- 
der in the Mithridatic war 281 

Defeat of Mithridates 281 

Mithridates retreats to the Cim- 
merian Bosporus 281 

Pompejus pursues him 281 

He returns to Pontus 281 

He makes Syria a Roman prov- 
ince 282 

He takes Jerusalem 282 

Phoenicia and Palestine subdued 282 

Death of Mithridates 233 

Settlement of the East 283 

Pompejus returns to Italy 283 



XXIV. 

Internal History During Pompe- 
jus' Absence. 

Condition of Italy 283 

Contests of parties 284 

History of Catiline 234 

His career 285 

65. First conspiracy 235 

Its failure 285 

He lays his plans more carefully, 285 

63. Second Conspiracy 235 

Consulship of Cicero 236 

106. His birth 237 

His education 288 

8 1 . His speech for P. Quintius .... 239 

79. He studies at Athens 289 

Impeachment of Verres 290 

Cicero's political consistency . . . 291 

63. Cicero, consul 291 

His defence of Rabirius 292 

Catiline prepares for war 293 

First Catilinian oration 294 

Catiline quits Rome 293 

The conspirators arrested 295 

The conspirators condemned. . . 29G 

Efforts to implicate Crassus 29G 

The conspirators executed 297 

62. Defeat and death of Catiline ... 298 

The position of Cicero 293 

Pompejus returns to Italy 299 

Position of parties 299 

61 . Triumph of Pompejus SCO 

Rise of Caesar 301 

102. His birth? 302 



68. 
65. 



61. 
60. 



60. 



58. 

57. 
57. 



PAGE 

His early history 302 

Quaestor 302 

He restores the trophies of Ma- 

rius 803 

Caesar, the greatest man of an- 
tiquity 303 

Caesar propraetor in Spain S03 

He returns to Rome and effects 
a coalition with Pompejus and 

Crassus 304 

First consulship of Caesar 304 

The Agrarian law 

Pompejus' acts in the East rati- 
fied S04 

The equites gained over 304 

Caesar uses P. Clodius to humble 

the aristocracy 305 

Clodius' legislation 306 

Banishment of Cicero and Cato, 307 



XXV. 

Conquest of the West, B. C. 
58-51. 

Condition of Gaul 308 

Its civilization 308 

Its climate S08 

Roman merchants 308 

Massilia, the centre of trade . . . 308 

58. The First Campaign. 309 

Defeat of the Helvetians 309 

War with Ariovistus 309 

5 7. Second Campaign 310 

The Belgic war 310 

The Nervii defeated 310 

56. TJiird Campaign 310 

War with the Yeneti 310 

Great naval victory 310 

The Morini defeated 310 

55. Fourth Campaign 310 

Invasion of Germany 310 

Invasion of Britain ?. . . 310 

The effect of these victories in 

Rome 310 

54. Fifth Campaign 311 

Revolt in Gaul 311 

53. Sixth Campaign 311 

The Eburones subdued 311 

52. Seventh Campaign 311 

The Gauls revolt again 312 

Vercingetorix 312 

Siege of Alesia 313 

Caesar victorious 313 

5 1 . Eighth Campaign 313 



XX11 



ANALYSIS. 



57. 



55. 



53. 



52. 



50. 
49. 



49. 



PAGE 

The Gauls submit 313 

The Gauls conciliated 313 

Organization of Gaul 313 

Provinces 314 

XXVI. 
Rule of tlie Triumvirs. 

Anarchy in the capital 315 

Cicero's recall from exile 316 

The triumvirate renewed 310 

Pompejus and Crassus consuls, 317 
Pompejus leans toward the sen- 
ate 313 

Crassus proconsul in Syria 318 

His defeat and death 319 

The aristocracy oppose Milo to 

Clodius 320 

Death of Clodius 320 

Pompejus sole consul 321 

Trial of Milo 322 

Pompejus allies himself with the 

aristocracy 322 

His measures 322 

Caesar's position 323 

His action in Gaul 320 

Pompejus precipitates a rup- 
ture 324 

The action of the senate 324 

Caesar ordered to give up his 

province 325 

He crosses the Rubicon and com- 
mences civil war 325 



XXVII. 

Great Civil War, B.C. 49-46. 

The legality of Caesar's course.. 325 
Cicero's efforts for peace 326 

49. Caesar at Ariminum 327 

Caesar at Corflnium 327 

Pompejus flees from Rome . 328 

Caesar has control of Italy . . 328 

Caesar's return to Rome 328 

He goes to Spain 328 

Battle of Ilerda 328 

Caesar dictator 329 

Resources of the Pompeians 339 

4 8 . Caesar crosses to Greece 330 

Battle of Dyrrhachium 330 

Caesar retreats 330 

Battle at FJiarsalus 339 

Defeat of the Pompeians 330 

Pompejus flees to Egypt 331 



B. C. PAGE 

His death 331 

The Alexandrian war 332 

47. Ptolemy defeated ' 332 

Caesar goes to Pontus 332 

Defeat of Pharnaces 332 

Anarchy at Rome 333 

Return of Caesar 333 

He sails to Africa 334 

46. Battle of Thapsus 334 

Death of Cato 334 

Caesar returns to Rome 334 

Powers conferred upon Caesar. . 335 

46. Caesar's triumph 336 

Caesar rules as imperator 337 

His projects for reform 337 

His aim 338 

He reforms the calendar (note) . . 339 

Insurrection in Spain 339 

Caesar departs for Spain 339 

45. Battle of Munda 339 

Caesar's return to Rome . , 340 

New marks of honor conferred 

upon him 340 

Signs of discontent 340 

Plot against Caesar's life 341 

44. His assassination 341 

The conspirators have no plan. . 342 

Their action 343 

Lepidus 343 

The intrigues of Antonius 343 

The senate convened 344 

Caesar's acts confirmed 344 

Caesar's will 344 

His funeral obsequies 344 

The indignation of the people. . 344 
The flight of the conspirators. . . 344 

Success of Antonius 345 

Octavius comes to Rome 345 

Caesar's heir £45 

He courts the favor of the senate 346 

Cicero and Octavius 346 

Antonius besieges Mutina 347 

Octavius unites with the consuls 

against Antonius 347 

The activity of Cicero 347 

43. The First Philippic 347 

The opposition of the senate to 

Octavius 348 

Octavius consul 348 

He throws off all disguise 348 

He forms an alliance with An- 
tonius and Lepidus 348 

The proscription 348 

Reign of terror 348 

Murder of Cicero '..... 343 



ANALYSIS. 



XX111 



xxvni. 

Last Days of tlie Republic. 

3. PAGE 

;. Octavius and Antonius prepare 

for war 349 

Brutus and Cassius 349 

Their proceedings in the East . . 349 

The action of Brutus 349 

The triumvirs proceed to Greece 350 

. Battle of Phillppi 350 

Defeat and death of Brutus and 

Cassius 350 

The republicans take refuge 

with Sextus Pompejus 351 

Division of the Roman world. . . 351 

Antonius and Cleopatra 351 

Octavius in Italy 352 

Confusion in Italy 352 

\* Treaty of Brundisium. . , 352 

New partition of the Roman 
World 352 

i. The triumvirs treat with S. Pom- 
pejus 353 

The treaty of Tarentum 353 

\, Sextus Pompejus defeated . 353 

The fall of Lepidus 354 

Octavius in Italy 354 

His prudent measures v . . . 354 

His ministers 354 

Antonius and the East 355 

• He invades Parthia 355 

: . He invades Armenia 355 

His infatuation with Cleopatra . . 350 

The popularity of Octavius 356 

He subdues the Dalmatians, Sa- 

lassi, and Pannonians 357 

He rebuilds and beautifies Rome 357 

i. Rupture between Octavius and 

Antonius 357 

War declared against Egypt 357 

Battle of A ctitim 358 

Flight of Antonius 358 

>. Suicide of Antonius 359 

Suicide of Cleopatra 360 

Octavius sole ruler 300 

Egypt a Roman province 360 

>. Triumph of Octavius 360 



XXIX. 

The Military Organization. 

The military power 365 

The legion 365 



B. C. PAGE 

First Period 365 

Hastati 367 

Principes 307 

Triarii 307 

The equestrian order 307 

The army in b. c. 340 307 

The army in the time of Poly- 

bius 308 

The tactic order 309 

Offensive and defensive weapons 370 

The Second letiod 370 

Reduction of the census 371 

The legion in the time of Marius 371 
The legion in the time of Caesar 3?'2 

Order of battle 373 

The pay of the army. 874 

The equipments 374 

The System of Encamp- 
ment 375 

First period 375 

The Guard of the Camp 377 

The camp in the time of Caesar 378 

The tents 378 

The camp in the time of the 

empire 379 

Military Engines 379 

The besieging tower 380 

The catapulta 380 

The ballista 380 

Manner of besieging a city 383 

Manner of defence 383 

XXX. 

Manners and Customs, Education. 
Private and Domestic Life. 

The city of Rome 385 

Its streets 385 

Its buildings 385 

The forum 380 

Roman houses 387 

How constructed 387 

Their interior 387 

The atrium 387 

Changes 

Furniture 389 

Wall-painting 389 

Mirrors, dinner couches, etc . 389 
Carpets 390 

Plan of a Roman house 390 

Method of warming 391 

Furnaces 391 

Cooking utensils 391 

Method of lighting 392 



XX1T 



ANALYSIS. 



B. C. PAGE 

Meals , 392 

Food 393 

Courses 393 

Delicacies 393 

Table usage 394 

The Roman family 394 

Names 395 

/ Marriage 395 

Different forms 396 

Ceremonies 396 

The bride 396 

Children 397 

Medical men , ,.. 397 

Trades 398 

Painting at Pompeii 399 

Nine guilds 399 

Implements of trade 399 

" Education 399 

Schools , 399 

Teachers were slaves 400 

Greek literature 400 

Course of instruction 400 

Methods of teaching 401 

Holidays and punishments. . . 401 

Implements of writing 401 

Letter-writing 493 

Stylus 403 

Ink 403 

Parchment, ivory, etc 403 

Address 404 

Dress of men 404 

Covering for the feet 405 

Ornaments 405 

Dress for women 4C6 

Baths 407 

Baths of Caracalla 408 

Games of the circus 408 

Gladiatorial games 409 

The origin 409 

Schools of gladiators 411 

How advertised 411 

Amphitheatre 411 

Origin of the word 411 

How constructed 411 

The Flavian amphitheatre 412 

The theatre 413 

Dramatic entertainments 413 

Beginning of the theatre 413 

First regular plays 413 

First Roman theatre 413 

The theatre of Pompejus . 414 

Funerals 414 

Funeral procession 415 

The funeral oration 415 

Cremation . ... 415 



XXXI. 

The Empire Established hy Au- 
gustus, B.C. 31 to A. D. 14. 

B. C. PAGE 

The policy of Augustus 417 

He proceeds cautiously. 417 

His system of administration . . 418 
He disguises his rule under re- 
publican forms 418 

The senate : its meetings 419 

The emperor's artful policy .... 419 
29. Augustus made president of the 

senate 419 

The provinces 419 

Titles and powers conferred 

upon Augustus 420 

Imperator (proconsulare impe- 

rium conferred b. c. 30) . . . . 420 
Augustus 420 

23. The tribunitian power 421 

The aristocracy humbled 423 

The policy of Augustus com- 
pared with that of Caesar 423 

Augustus restores order. . 424 

Military roads 425 

Commerce 420 

The imperial city 426 

fhe aristocracy 427 

The equestrian order 423 

The people 428 

Number of poor citizens 428 

Largesses of corn 428 

Population of Rome 428 

The provincial senate 429 

The army, where stationed 429 

The fleet 429 

Military operations 430 

27. Measures in Gaul . . 430 

Conquest of the Iberians and 
Cantabri 430 

24. JElius Gallus in Arabia 4S2 

Secular games celebrated 432 

1"5. Campaign of Drusus against the 

Rhaeti 432 

Campaigns of Tiberius against 

the Vindelici 432 

12. Campaign of Drusus on the 

Rhine 433 

9. Death of Drusus 433 

The emperor's popularity 433 

He receives the title of" Father 

of his Country " 434 

The imperial family 434 

12,8. Death of Agrippa and Maecenas, 434 
2. Disgrace of Julia 435 



ANALYSIS. 



XXV 



A. D, PAGE 

4. Tiberius is adopted by Augustus, 435 
9. Defeat of Varus in Germany . . . 436 

1 4. Death of Augustus 437 

Prosperity of the empire 437 

The Monumentum Ancyranum, 438 
The emperor's will (note) 438 

XXXH. 

Reigns of Tiberius Caesar, and of 

Gajus Caligula. 

14. Tiberius assumes the imperial 

power . . . 440 

Changes in the constitution . . . 
Revolt of the legions on the 

Rhine and the Danube 441 

14. Invasion of Germany 441 

16. The lost eagles of Varus recov- 
ered 441 

Law of Majestas 442 

Delators or informers 442 

Sejanus aspires to the supreme 

power 443 

31. His death 

37, Death of Tiberius 443 

His character 444 

37. Gajus Caesar becomes emperor, 444 

His prudent measures 444 

He engages in the sports of the 

amphitheatre 444 

His extravagance 445 

His impiety 445 

His insolence towards the no- 
bles 

XXXIII. 

Reigns of Claudius and of IVero, 

Galba, Otho and Vitellius. 

41. Claudius made emperor by the 

praetorians 446 

His popularity 446 

His liberal policy .* 446 

43. The barbarians checked on the 

Rhine 446 

Britain invaded 

How he treats the Eastern 

princes 447 

The Claudian aqueducts con- 
structed 447 

The infamous Messalina . 448 

Agrippina becomes the wife of 

Claudius 44S 

Her son adopted 448 

54. Nero becomes emperor. . 448 

His policy towards the nobles . . 449 
64. The great fire in Rome 449 



A. D. PAGE 

Persecutions of the Christians.. 449 

Nero's golden house 450 

Conspiracy formed against 

Nero 450 

Lucan and Seneca perish 450 

68. DeathofNero 450 

68. Galba emperor 451 

Piso associated with him 451 

Otho proclaimed emperor 451 

Battle at Bedriacum 451 

Vitellius emperor 451 

69. He is succeeded by Vespasian. . 452 

XXXIV. 

Fluvian Emperors ; Vespasian, 
Titus, Domitian, A. D. 69-96. 

69. The revolt in Gaul and on the 

Rhine 452 

Vespasian builds the Colosseum, 453 

70. Capture of Jerusalem 

Invasion of Britain 454 

Character of Vespasian 454 

79. Titus declared emperor 454 

His character 454 

Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius 455 

Pompeji and Herculaneum de- 
stroyed 455 

Death of Pliny 455 

8 1 . Accession of Domitian 456 

His character 456 

Campaign in Britain 456 

The triumphal arch of Domitian, 457 
He is worshipped with divine 
honors 457 

96. His death 457 

The last of the " Twelve Cae- 
sars," 457 

Tacitus and Suetonius 457 

XXXV. 

Reigns of Nerva, of Trajan, of 

Hadrian, 96-13 8. 

96. The senate appoints Nerva em- 
peror 458 

He adopts Ulpius Trajanus 458 

98 . Trajan emperor 458 

Trajan crosses the Rhine 458 

He obtains the surname of Op- 

timus 459 

He conquers Dacia 459 

Armenia and Mesopotamia an- 
nexed 459 

Trajan's forum and laws for the 
poor 459 



XXVI 



ANALYSIS. 



A. D. PAGE 

Prosperity of the empire 460 

117. Accession of Hadrian 460 

He gives up the conquests of 

Trajan 460 

His travels 462 

His buildings 462 

Roman colony of jElia Capito- 

lina 463 

Hadrian, emperor of the Roman 

world „ 464 

XXXVI. 

Age of tlie Aiitonines. — Prosperity 
of the Empire, A. D. 138-192. 

138. Accession of Antoninus Pius . . . 464 

His long and peaceful reign 465 

Justin Martyr 465 

161. Accession of Marcus Aurelius . . 466 

His character 466 

The barbarians 466 

Aurelius adopts Verus 466 

The plague 466 

The frontier 467 

Orphan schools founded 467 

The prosperity of the empire. . . 467 

180. Death of Aurelius 467 

XXXVII. 

Internal Condition of the Empire. 
— Symptoms of Decline. 

The prosperity of the empire . . . 468 

Its boundaries 46S 

The barbarians 463 

Symptoms of decline 468 

The invasion of the Marco- 

manni 433 

General prosperity 468 

Causes of decline 4C9 

Luxury: meaning of the word.. 469 

Its meaning changes 469 

Amount of wealth in the Roman 

world 469 

Great fortunes compared with 

those of modern times 469 

The stories of Suetonius 470 

They give an exaggerated idea of 

the luxury prevailing in Rome 470 
Rich families and their incomes 470 

The standard of luxury. . 470 

Varro and Pliny 470 

The standpoint, from which they 

view their own age 470 

Pliny's idea of luxury 470 



B. C. PAGE 

Friedlander's opinion 470 

Pliny depicts the prosperity of 

the empire 471 

Causes of decline 471 

Lack of industry 471 

Idleness 471 

Extent to which it can be safely 

carried 472 

Gibbon's estimate 472 

Gap between the rich and poor . 472 

Decrease of population 472 

Decrease of population in Cae- 
sar's time 472 

Measures introduced by Augus- 
tus to check it 473 

The cause of this decrease in 

population 473 

The long series of wars 473 

The importation of grain causes 

farming to be abandoned 473 

Slave labor 473 

Disappearance of free laborers. . 474 

Exposition of children 474 

Infanticide 474 

The people practice no trades . . 474 
The depression of the higher 

classes ... 474 

The barbarians 475 

Settled within the empire 475 

The influence of civilization on 

them 475 

The plague 475 

Philosophy 475 

Religion 475 

Worship 475 

Christianity 475 

All creeds and forms of worship 

allowed at Rome 476 

Persecution of the Christians . . . 476 

Its cause 477 

Infidelity 478 



xxxvni. 

Period of Transition, 
284. 



AD. 180- 



1 8 0-2 84. The first period of imperial- 
ism 478 

Character of the government . . . 478 

The revolutionary age 478 

The soldiery 478 

Reforms . 478 

180-192. Commodus emperor 479 

His cruelty 479 



ANALYSIS. 



XXV11 



B. C. PAGE 

Is assassinated 479 

193. Pertinax 479 

Murdered by the praetorians — 479 

Empire sold at auction 479 

193. Julianus buys it 479 

Kevolt of the armies on the 

frontiers 479 

193-211. S. Severus emperor 480 

His severe rule 480 

The praetorians disbanded 480 

His campaign against the Par- 

thians 480 

He visits Britain, dies at York. . 480 

211-212. Geta 480 

212-21 7. Caracalla 480 

Cruelties of Caracalla 480 

Murders his brother 480 

Puts to death Papinian 480 

Citizenship conferred on all free 

subjects. . : 480 

217-218. Macrinus 481 

218-222. Elagabalus, sun priest.. . 481 

Disappearance of literature 481 

222-235. Alexander Severus 481 

His efforts to control the legions 481 

Death of Ulpian 481 

Dio Cassius, the historian 481 

The emperor killed in a mutiny 481 

235-238. Maximin 481 

238-238. Gordian I., emperor 481 

Gordian II., emperor ... 481 

238-238. Papienus Maximus 481 

Balbinus 481 

238-244. Gordian III 481 

244-249. Phillip, emperor, celebrates 
the thousandth anniversary of 

Rome - 481 

249-2 5 1 . Decius emperor . . 481 

Persecutes the Christians 481 

251-254. Gallus emperor 482 

253-253. ^Emilian emperor 482 

253-260. Valerian emperor 482 

253-268. Gallienus 482 

Eevolt in different provinces ... 482 
Age of the Thirty Tyrants .... 482 

Weakness of the empire 482 

268-270. Claudius II. emperor 482 

Campaign against the Persians, 482 

270-275. Aurelian emperor 482 

Surrounds Rome with a wall . . . 482 

Gives Dacia up to the Goths 482 

The barbarians (note) 482 

The tribes on the Rhine and the 

Danube (note) . . 482 

Agri decumates (note) 482 



B. C. PAGE 

Invasion of Italy (note) 482 

The Franks ; the Goths (note). . 482 
The rise of the Persian mon- 
archy 482 

Captures and destroys Palmyra. 484 

Longinus, the critic 484 

275-276. Tacitus emperor 484 

276-276. Florian emperor 484 

276-282. Probus emperor 484 

282-283. Carus emperor 484 

Carinus emperor 484 

283-284. Numerianus emperor 484 

XXXIX. 
Second Period of Imperialism. 

284-305. Diocletian emperor 484 

286-305. Maximian 484 

305-306. Constantius 1 484 

A new phase in imperialism 484 

The military power 485 

The army recruited from the 

barbarians 485 

The tendency of the empire to 

break into fragments 485 

Antagonism between the East 

and West 485 

Changes made by Diocletian . . . 485 
He divides the empire with 

Maximian 486 

Subdivided with two Caesars . . . 486 
Diocletian reigns over the East 

(note) 486 

Maximian reigns over Italy and 

Africa 486 

Constantius defends the Rhenish 

frontier 488 

Galerius defends the Danubian 

frontier 486 

Oppressive system of taxation . . 486 
The price of articles of food 

(note) 487 

Diocletian abdicates 487 

Contest for the empire 487 

305-311. Galerius 487 

306-337. Constantinel 487 

307-323. Licinius 487 

Series of bloody wars 487 

324-337. Constantine sole emperor, 488 
He completes the revolution be- 
gun by Diocletian 488 

Separation of the civil and mili- 
tary power 488 

The people 388 

The provinces ; how governed, 489 



XXV111 



ANALYSIS. 



A. D. PAGE 

The military power 489 

The new capital 489 

Taxation. 489 

The army 489 

The organization of the court . . 489 

Christianity 489 

Eusebius 489 

The pretended vision of Con- 

stantine 490 

313. The edict of Milan 490 

Arian heresy 490 

325. The council at Nicaea 490 

The character of Constantine . . 490 

The result of his reforms 490 

XL. 

Gradual Dissolution of the Em- 
pire.— The Reunion of the East 
and the West. 

337-340. Constantine IT 491 

337-361 . Constantius II 491 

337-350. Constans 491 

Series of bloody wars 491 

Constantius sole emperor 491 

361-363. Julian 491 

His apostacy from Christianity, 491 

His administration 491 

His campaign in the East 491 

363-364. Jovian 491 

364-375. ValentinianI 491 

The Huns appear in Europe 492 

The Goths cross the Danube ... 492 

375-383. Gratian emperor 492 

383-392. Yalentinian II 492 

393-395. Theodosius I appointed 

to rule the East 492 

395-423. Honorius emperor of the 

West 492 

Division of the empire 492 

The Goths defeated by Stilicho, 493 

Fall of Stilicho 493 

410. Sack of Rome by Alaric 493 

412. Foundation of the West Gothic 

kingdom 493 

Britain separated from the em- 
pire 493 

423-435. Theodosius II emperor . . 493 
435-455. Valentinian III emperor, 493 

The Vandais 493 

452. The Huns defeated at Chalons. . 494 
455. Sack of Rome by the Vandals .. 494 

455-455. Maximus 494 

455-456. Avitus emperor 494 



A. d. page 

He is dethroned by Ricimer . . . 495 
457-462 Majorian made emperor 

by Ricimer 495 

462-465. Severus 495 

467-473. Anthemius 495 

473-472. Olybrius 495 

473-474. Glycerius 495 

474-475. Nepos ...495 

475-476. Romulus Augustulus .... 495 
472. Orestes succeeds Ricimer as pa- 
trician 495 

476. Odoacer deposes Augustulus . . . 495 
Zeno, the Eastern emperor, con- 
fers the Italian provinces on 

Odoacer 496 

Reunion of the East and West. . 496 
Results that sprung from this 
reunion 496 

XLI. 

Internal History. — Fall of the 
Western Empire.— Christianity. 

The Western empire 496 

The imperial government 496 

The barbarians 497 

Dismemberment of the empire, 497 

The fall of the empire 497 

The cause 497 

The barbarians overrun and set- 
tle Italy and the provinces — 497 
Character of the barbarians — 498 

Their civilization 498 

Chivalry 499 

Romance 499 

The Romance languages 499 

Their origin 499 

Philosophy and religion 500 

Greek philosophy 500 

Eastern forms of worship . . 500 

Process of elimination 500 

The result of the comparison of 

religions 500 

Sun-worship ~. 500 

Paganism 500 

Its revival 500 

Christianity 501 

Persecution of the Christians . . . 501 

Its cause 501 

Christianity triumphs 501 

Efforts to harmonize Paganism 

and Christianity 501 

The basilicm (note) 501 

The Christian churches (note) . . 501 
Sunday and Sabbath (note) .... 502 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. The Geography of Italy. 

1. Italy in Early Times. — The history of Eome, unlike 
that of most other countries, is the history of a single city. 
This city was at first small and insignificant, but in the course 
of time It extended its dominion not only over Italy, but over 
the chief countries around the Mediterranean Sea. During all 
this time, however, Eome remained the centre of the empire, 
and refused to extend her constitution to the conquered peoples 
until a terrible war l compelled her to grant the rights of citi- 
zenship to the whole of Italy. Henceforth Italy, like Eome, 
was under the authority of the ordinary Eoman magistrates, 
and the citizens, on going to Eome, had a right to vote in the 
popular assemblies and take a part in the government of the 
state. It will be well, then, before beginning the history of the 
city itself, briefly to describe Italy and the several districts into 
which it w T as divided. 

2. The Divisions of Italy. — Italy, the central one of the 
three peninsulas of Southern Europe, is bounded on the north 
by the Alps, on the east by the Adriatic Sea, and on the south 
and west by the Mediterranean and Tuscan seas. The country 
may be conveniently divided into Northern, Central, and 
Southern Italy. 

3. Northern Italy. — Northern Italy is watered by the Po 
(Paclus) and its numerous tributaries, and embraces the coun- 
try between the Alps and the Apennines. The names of the 
districts into which Northern Italy was in ancient times di- 
vided may for the sake of convenience be enumerated, although 
all of this great plain, which we now call Lombardy, was not 
regarded, at the time Eome was founded, 2 as a part of Italy. 3 
The names of these countries were : 

1 See p. 235. 3 B. C. 753. 

3 The word Italia embraced at first only the southern part of the peninsula (see col- 
ored map No. 1), but after the conquest of Southern Italy by the Romans the name was 
applied to the whole peninsula south of the rivers Rubicon and JEsis (see p. 108). It was 
not until a later time {see p. 257) that the basin of the Po became incorporated with Italy. 



THE GEOGKAPHY OF ITALY. 



1. Liguria, which was situated in the western part of 
Northern Italy. Its chief towns were ISficaea (Nice), Asta 
(Asti), Genua (Genoa), and Detona (Tortona). 

2. Gallia Cisalpijia, 1 which was divided by the river Padus 
(Po) into Gallia Cispadana and Transpadana, and contained in 
Eoman times many nourishing cities, among which may be 
mentioned Augusta Taurinorum (Turin), Augusta Prsetoria 
(Aosta), Mediolanum (Milan), Brixia (Brescia), Cremona, and 
Verona. 2 On the south side of the Padus were Placentia, Par- 
ma, Muiina (Modena), Bononia (Bologna), and Eavenna. 3 

3. Venetia, which was situated in the eastern part of North- 
ern Italy. Its chief cities were Patavium (Padua), Altinum 
(Altino), and Aquileja. 

4. Central Italy. — Central Italy extended 4 as far south as 
a line drawn from the river Silarus (Sele) to a point just above 
the mouth of the river Frento (Frentore), and embraced the 
following countries : 

1. Etruria was bounded on the north by the Apennines, on 
the east by Umbria and the territory of the Sabines, on the 
south by the Tiber, which separated it from Latium, and on 
the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. The important rivers were 
the Arnus (Arno), Umbro, and the Clanis, a tributary of the 
Tiber. The Etruscan state consisted of a confederacy of twelve 
great cities, the most important of which were Tarquinii, Pe- 
rusia (Perugia), Clusium (Cldusi), Caere, near Mt. Soracte, 
Sutrium, and Veji on the river Cremera, about twelve miles 
from Borne. 

2. Latium embraced at first only the narrow strip of land 
between the Alban hills, the river Kumicus, and the Tiber, 5 but 
it was gradually extended to the south and west, until, after the 
conquest of the iEquians, the Hernicans, the Volscians, and the 
Auruncans, it comprised all the country as far as the river 
Liris. 6 The Latins 7 were united in a league of thirty cities, at 
the head of which was Alba Longa. The chief towns were 
Eome, Alba, Tibur (Tivoli), Gabii, Tusculum, Praeneste, and 
Corioli. 

1 It is called Cisalpina because on this (the Italian) side of the Alps, in distinction 
from Transalpine Gaul (France); Gallia Cispadana, i. e., Gaul on this (the Roman) side 
of the Po. 

2 Interesting on account of the remains of an amphitheatre, which are in a good 
state of preservation. 

3 These towns were mostly Eoman colonies. While the country remained in the 
possession of the GanN it was almost wholly without cities. 

4 See colored map No. 1. 

5 LaHum Vetus, or ancient Latium. See map, p. 4. 

6 Latium adjectum,, or Latium after the territory of these tribes was added to it, 

7 Latini Prisci. For a list of the thirty Latin cities see map, p. 94. 



THE GEOGKAPHY OF ITALY. 




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r egillusoS \ Pr ^ nes ^?#F 

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3. Campania extended along the coast from the river Liris on 
the north to the Silarus on the south, and was bounded on the 
south and east by Samnium and Lucania. The soil was ex- 
ceedingly fertile, 1 the landscape beautiful, the climate mild, 
and the harbors excellent. The numerous thermal springs in 
the neighborhood of Bajse 2 (Baja), Puteoli 3 (Pvzzuoli), and 
Neapolis {Naples) gave it an additional attraction to the 
wealthy classes, who crowded its shores with their villas. 
Capua, the capital, was situated in the midst of a plain of great 
fertility and beauty. 4 

4. Umbria extended along the Adriatic from the river Eu- 
bicon to the river iEsis, and was separated from Etruria by the 

1 Hence called Campania felix. 

2 Horace CEp. i., 85) says: "Nothing in the world can be compared with the lovely 
bay of Bajse. 11 Of the numerous baths and villas, whose foundations were often thrown 
far into the sea, nothing but mere fragments remain. 

3 The puzzolana earth from which a cement is manufactured derives its name from 
Puzzuoli. Puteoli was at one time the chief commercial city in Italy and the principal 
depot for the vast traffic with the East. As many as 10,000 slaves were sometimes 
landed here in one day. 

4 It was within the borders of Campania that Pompeji and Herculaneum were situ- 
ated. These cities were buried in a. d. 79 under a dense bed of ashes and cinders. See 
p. 455. 



THE GEOGKAPHY OF ITALY. 



Tiber, and on the south and east from the Sabines by the river 
Nar. This fertile district had been in early times conquered 
by the Gauls, and was therefore called by the Romans the 
Gallic territory. 1 Among the numerous cities were Ariminum 
(Rimini), Sena Gallica (Sinigaglia), Sarsina, Sentinum, and 
Narnia (Narni). 

5. Picenum extended along the Adriatic from the riyer 
iEsis to the Matrinus (La Piomba), which separated it from 
the country of the Vestini. In the interior the hills were cov- 
ered with extensive forests, while the slopes along the sea pro- 
duced an abundance of apples, olives, corn, and wine. The 
towms were Ancona, Auxinum, and Interamna (Teramo). 

6. The Sabini inhabited the country from the sources of the 
Nar on the north to the Tiber and Anio on the south. They 
were one of the most ancient races in Italy, and when first 
known lived in the neighborhood of Amiternum, from whence 
they spread to the south and became the progenitors of the 
Marsians, Marrucinians, Pselignians, and Vestinians, all of 
which, including even the Sabines, are comprised under the 
general name of Sabellians. At a later time 2 the Sabines 
proper, under the name of Samnites, spread to the south, and 
mixing with the Oscans, gave themselves also the name of 
Sabellians, a name under which modern writers have compre- 
hended the Sabines and all the various races descended from 
them. 3 The Sabellians then may be regarded as the genuine 
Italians, for they and the various tribes that sprang from them 
spread over Italy and caused their language and customs to 
prevail over the others. The Sabines were a hardy and indus- 
trious race, chiefly engaged in agriculture. Their country, 
though densely populated, had but few cities, among which 
were Amiternum, Reate, and JSfursia. 

7. Samnium was properly the name of the district bounded 
on the north by the Marsians, Paelignians, and Frentanians, 
on the east by Apulia, on the south by Lucania, and on the 
west by Campania and Latium. The capital was Bovianum. 
The inhabitants were the most warlike people in Italy, and, as 
the most powerful member of the Sabellian races, carried on a 
long war with Rome for the dominion of Italy. 

5. Southern Italy.— Southern Italy included Lucania and 
Bruttium on the west, and Apulia and Calabria on the east. 
1. Lucania 4 extended from Campania, Samnium, and Apu- 

1 Ager Gallicus. ' 2 Since b. c. 450. s See colored map No. 1. 

4 This country was called by the Greeks Oenotria. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. 



lia on the north to the river Laus on the south, and on the 
Gulf of Tarentum from Apulia to Thurii. The chief Greek 
cities were Posidonia, 1 Thurii, and Heraclea. 

2. The Land of the Bruttii 2 was in the southern extremity 
of Italy, and was bounded on the north by Lucania, and on the 
other sides by the sea. The important cities were Petelia (Stron- 
goli), Croton (Crotona), Locri, Rhegium (Reggio), Medama. 

3. Apulia included the whole of the southwestern part of 
Italy, or the three districts inhabited by the Dauni, Peucetii, 
and Messapii. The Romans, however, generally confined the 
name to the country bounded on the north by the Frentani, 
on the west and east by the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, 
and on the south by a line drawn from a point a little north 
of Tarentum to the eastern coast. The important towns were 
Luceria, Arpi, Asculum, Venusia, and Cannae. 

4. Calabria was called by the Greeks Messapia, Iapygia, or 
Salentina, and was sometimes reckoned a part of Apulia ; but 
the Romans confined the name to the southern extremity of 
Apulia, or to what is sometimes called the "heel" of Italy. In 
the middle ages the name was applied also to the land of the 
Bruttii. The towns were Brundisium (Brunei isi) , Hydrun- 
tum (Otranto), and Tarentum (Taranto). At a very early 
time the Greeks founded in Southern Italy numerous cities, 
which became so powerful and wealthy that the whole coun- 
try was called Magna Gracia, or Great Greece. Tarentum soon 
became the most flourishing and powerful of these cities, and 
carried on an extensive commerce and inland trade that brought 
to it great wealth and prosperity. The situation was so delight- 
ful and the soil so fertile that even after the decline of the pros- 
perity of the city, and its conquest by the Romans, 3 Horace 
called it "the most smiling corner of the world, where the 
spring was long, and Jupiter vouchsafed mild winters." 4 

6. The Mountain System. — The mountains of Italy con- 
sist of two chains, the Alps and Apennines. The Alps, which 
separate Italy from the rest of Europe, were the natural bar- 
riers against the barbarous nations on the north and west. The 
Apennines, extending from their junction with the maritime 
Alps (Col di Tenda) in a southeasterly and southerly direction, 
traverses the peninsula its entire length. Central and Southern 
Italy are thus divided into two parts. In the eastern part the 

1 The city of Neptune ; in b. c. 273 the Romans founded the colony of Psestum here. 

2 The name Brnttium has been given to this country by modern geographers, The 
Romans called it Bruttius Ager or Bruttiorum Aqer. 

3 See p, 149 ; * Carm, ii, 6, 






THE GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. 



mountains approach nearer the shore, and lateral ranges branch 
off with considerable regularity. The rivers, as the Aternus 
(Aterno), Frento (Fortore), and Aufidus (Ofanto), pursuing 
therefore nearly parallel courses at right angles to the main 
chain, are swift, small, and unimportant. The valleys are 
small, and separated as they are, sometimes by narrow ridges 
of moderate elevation, sometimes by rugged ranges of consid- 
erable height, must have tended to isolate the inhabitants. 
Quite different is the case in the western part. Here between the 
sea and the mountains is an extensive tract of country consist- 
ing of large valleys and fertile plains, watered by the Arno and 
Tiber, the two principal rivers of Central Italy. Both taking 
their rise in the highlands of the Abruzzi, where the Apen- 
nines reach their greatest height, the one, winding westerly and 
then northerly, turns to the west and empties into the Tyrrhe- 
nian Sea; the other, breaking through the mountain chain at 
Perugia (Perusid), pursues its course in a southerly direction, 
but after receiving the waters of the JSTar, turns in a westerly 
direction and falls into the Tyfrhenian Sea by two months 
forming an island sacred to Venus and still called Isola Sacra. 

7. The Campagna. — Here, on the western side, were the 
largest and most remarkable of the valleys of Central and 
Southern Italy, the present Campagna and the Campania of the 
ancients. The Campagna extends along the coast for about 
ninety miles, from a line drawn from Mt. Soracte (Monte S. 
Oreste) to Ostia on the north and to Tarracina in the south. 
The northern part of the Campagna is watered by the Tiber, 
on whose left bank about eighteen miles from its mouth is sit- 
uated the city of Rome. The view of the Campagna from the 
tower of the Capitol is unsurpassed. To the northwest across 
the Tiber lies Mt. Janiculus, and in the distance flows the Aro, 
shut in by the Etruscan hills. To the north rises, like a blue 
island in the iEgean Sea, the summit of Soracte, rendered 
famous by the poet Horace, while to the eastward, just where 
the Anio breaks through the mountains, is Tivoli (Tibur), the 
home of the poet, and in the background lie the Sabine Apen- 
nines. Here was the home of the Latin race, with their sanc- 
tuary on the Alban Mount, and their "Long White City," 
Alba Longa, skirting its side. Far to the southward, over the 
line of the Appian Way 1 and the ruins of aqueducts 2 as far as 
the eye can reach, extends the bare, desolate plain, with no 

1 See p. 113. a gee pp. 112 and 113, 



8 THE GEOGEAPHY OF ITALY. 

trees, no human habitation, until it sinks into the sea. In 
ancient times the country was exceedingly rich and densely 
populated, and even the Pomptine marshes (Pomptinus Ager) 
were celebrated for their fertility, and contained twenty-three 
flourishing cities. 

8. The River System.— The rivers of Italy all take their 
rise in the Apennines, and all wash down from the mountains 
a slime that raises their beds and would spread them over the 
adjacent plains if they were not restrained by dykes. 1 Most of 
the rivers, with the exception of the Tiber and Arnus, particu- 
larly those on the east, having no great length of course, are swol- 
len and violent in winter and spring, but in summer are nearly 
dry. The Tiber retains at all seasons a considerable body of 
water, and is navigable for large ships up to Eome, where it 
is about three hundred feet wide, and from twelve to eighteen 
feet deep. 

9. The Islands. — The islands about Italy are numerous 
and important. Sicily is triangular in shape, and therefore 
often called Trinacria; it has no large rivers or lakes, but its 
mountain system traverses the island from east to west, the 
highest peak of which is JEtna (10,874 ft.). There were many 
Carthaginian and Greek settlements, of which may be men- 
tioned Messana, Syracuse, Gela, Agrigentum, Egesta, Panormus, 
besides Enna, a native town. Sardinia was traversed through 
its whole length from north to south by mountains, and had 
but few rivers or towns. The capital was Caralis (Cagliari). 
The climate was unhealthy, but still the country was noted for 
its abundant harvest of wheat and its rich silver mines. Cor- 
sica (Greek rj Kvpvog) is much more mountainous than Sar- 
dinia. The mountain districts afforded excellent pasturage for 
sheep, goats, and cattle, and were covered almost throughout 
the whole extent with dense forests of fir and pine. The two 
Eoman colonies were Aleria and Mariana. Of the smaller 
islands may be mentioned Ilva (Elha), Igilium (Giglio), Ca- 
preae (Capri), Lipara (Lepari), and the iEgatian Islands. 

10. The Position of Italy. — The position of Italy in the 
Mediterranean, on whose borders most of the civilized nations 
of antiquity lived, was peculiarly favorable. Italy possessed a 



1 The Komans gave great attention to aqueducts (see p. 112), construction of dykes, 
and the whole subject of irrigation. "It was next proposed," says Tacitus, "whether 
it was not expedient, in order to restrain the overflowing of the Tiber, to give a new 
course to the rivers and lakes by which it was fed. Upon thi£ question the deputies 
from the several cities were heard. The Florentines besought that the bed of the 
Clanis might not be turned into the A~*ui;s, for that would prove their ruin. ,, 



THE EARLY INHABITANTS. 9 

fertile soil and a delightful climate, tempered by the Apen- 
nines and sea, and its rich alluvial plains on the west were well 
suited to agriculture, while the grassy mountain-slopes and 
highlands of the east afforded excellent pasturage for the rais- 
ing of cattle. The long extent of sea-coast gave it a favorable 
position for trade and intercourse with the peoples of the Med- 
iterranean. Still it was not, like Greece, broken up by bays 
and arms of the sea, nor had it so many islands around about 
it, which made the Greeks a seafaring people. 



II. The Early Inhabitants. 

1. The Races in Italy. — Central and Southern Italy were 
inhabited from the earliest times to which our knowledge ex- 
tends by three races. These were the Iapygians, the Italians, 
and the Etruscans. 

2. The Iapygians. — The Iapygians were found in that 
part of Southern Italy which the Greeks called Messapia and 
which the Eomans called Calabria. Their language has been 
preserved in the Messapian inscriptions, 1 and has been found to 
be more nearly related to the Greek than to the other languages 
of Italy. This suggests the probability that they emigrated 
from Greece to Italy rather than that they were the first of the 
various races to enter Italy from the north, and were after- 
wards pressed to the south by other tribes that entered later. 

3. The Italians Proper. — The Italians 2 entered Italy 
later than the Iapygians, and occupied in historical times nearly 
the whole of Central Italy. They were of the same common 
stock as the Hellenes, both belonging to the Indo-European 3 
family. They both wandered westward from the highlands in 
-_ % 

1 The inscriptions were discovered inthe Terra di Otranto, and have been edited by 
Mommsen. 

- The term Italian or "Italic " is used to designate the races that chiefly peopled the 
Italy of the Romans. 

3 Philologists have designated the table-land where the Indus, Oxus, and Jaxartes 
rivers take their rise — the Iranian plateau — as the place from whence the different races 
, were dispersed. The first which left the common centre settled in Phoenicia, Egypt,* 
and Ethiopia. This race has been called Turanian. The next settled in the country 
extending from the Mediterranean Sea beyond the Tigris ; to this race the name Semitic 
has been given. The last race that left the common centre emigrated to the south, 
crossed the Hindo Koosh mountains, and entered India, subjugating the earlier Tura- 
nian tribes, and to the west over most of Europe, and became the progenitors of the 
Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Teutonic tribes. This race has been called Indo-Euro- 
pean, because different branches of it settled in India and Europe, or Indo-Germanic, 
because the Germans kave been the foremost to investigate its affinities. The name 
Aryan is now, particularly by German philologists, applied to one class of the great 
Indo-European stock. The following diagram shows the order (according to Schleicher) 
in which the Indo-European race branched: 



10 



THE EAELY INHABITANTS. 



the western part of Central Asia, the Hellenes passing from 
Asia Minor 1 to Greece, while the Italians, pushing further 
west, crossed the Apennines into Italy. The Italian race was 
divided into two chief branches, the Latin and the Umbro-Sa- 
bellian. The Latins occupied the central part of the peninsula 
west of the Apennines, i. e., Latium, Campania, Lucania, and 
Brutfcium. The Latins came in contact first with the Greeks 
in Campania, and received from them the name of Opici (Osci), 
a name which the Romans gave to those Samnites who after- 
wards overrun Campania. The Siculi (early pressed to the 
south, and finally crossing to the island of Sicily), as well as 
the Ausones, 2 sprung from the Latin race. These races came 
in contact at an early time with the Greek colonies in Southern 
Italy, and either completely yielded to their superior civiliza- 
tion or were so far weakened that they could offer but little 
resistance to the Samnites. 

4. The Umbrians. — The Umbrians entered Italy later than 
the Latins, and settled at first in Etruria. They were afterwards 
pressed to the east by later incomers, from whence they spread 
over the whole of the eastern part of the peninsula, under the 
name of Sabini, Samnites, and Picentes, or Sabellians, a general 
appellation for the Sabines and all the races or tribes that have 
derived their origin from them. These Sabellian tribes de- 
scended from the mountains like streams that flood and fertilize 




I ndo-European ^ ^ 
Parent Speech jT7>£W Graeco-U^ 



These movements took place before the dawn of history. The earliest literary remains 
are found in the Indo-Persian or Aryan branch, not far from two thousand years before 
Christ. It was formerly supposed that the Italic branch had a more intimate relation 
with the Hellenic than any other, because their ancestors lived long together, in what is 
called the Grseco-Italic time; but later researches have proved that the Italic and Celtic 
branches were the last to begin an independent history. 

1 Or the valley of the Danube. 3 See colored map ISo. 1, 



THE EARLY INHABITANTS. II 

the valleys. The Latins, who settled near the Tiber, belonged 
to the oldest of these successive migrations. Then came the 
Sabines, the iEquians, the Hernicans, the Volscians, who 
pressed hard on the Latins, hemming them in on the east and 
south, so that they were confined to the small district between 
the Tiber and the spurs of the Apennines on the north and 
east, and by the Alban hills on the south. This plain, the 
home of the Latin race, was a district 1 of about 700 square 
miles, and was watered by the Tiber and the Anio. 

5. The Etruscans. — The Etruscans 2 entered Etruriafrom 
the north and pressed the Umbrians who were already in pos- 
session of the country, and to whose further migration south- 
ward the Latins of Latium set a limit, either to the east or 
subdued them. It was this conquered people probably that was 
called Tusci, and to them the Rasennae owed their great ad- 
vance in civilization. The Rasennae assumed the name of the 
people whom they had enslaved and absorbed, and the whole 
were known as Tusci or Etrusci. They were a powerful people, 
extending from the Alps over the western part of Italy as far 
south as the Tiber. They were driven from the plains of the 
Po by the Gauls, and were finally subdued by the Romans. 
At an early period they carried on navigation, trade, and 
manufactures, which called cities into existence in Etruria ear- 
lier than elsewhere in Italy. These cities were united in a 
league consisting of twelve communities, which recognized a 
metropolis especially for purposes of worship ; yet these con- 
federations, still more than the Italian leagues, were deficient 
in a firm and powerful central authority. 

6. Their Civilization. — The Etruscans were especially 
noted for their maritime ascendency, and they succeeded in 
founding towns on the Latin and Campanian coasts. Their 
religion was a gloomy and tiresome mysticism, delighting in 
wild and horrible rites. The Etruscans borrowed their arts 
from the Greeks, and the remains which exist (particularly at 
Perugia) of temples, roads, dikes, as well as the castings in 
bronze 3 (Tuscania signa), figuresin terra-cotta, 4 golden chains 
and bracelets, and other ornaments that have been found in 
the tombs, all attest that the Etruscan produced massive and 

1 See map, p. 94, for the extent of this territory (ager Romanus). 

2 They called themselves Rasennae; they were named by the Greeks Tyfrheni, and by 
the Latins, Tusci or Etrusci. 

3 The orator and chimcera in the Etruscan Museum at Florence ; one found on Lake 
Trasimene, the other at Arezzo. 

4 In the Museo Gregoriano in the Vatican are sarcophagi of terra-cotta, vases and 
bronzes, mostly found at Chiusi, at Volterra, and at Corneto hear Tarquinii. 



12 THE EAELY INHABITANTS. 

rich workmanship ; yet their works are inferior to those of the 
Latins and Sabeilians in appropriateness and utility, no less 
than in spirit and beauty. The influence of Etruria on Latium, 
and particularly on Rome, has been very much over-estimated ; 
while, on the contrary, too little weight has been laid upon the 
immediate contact with Rome of the original (Umbrians) Tus- 
cans, produced by their being pressed to the borders of Latium 
by the Easenna?. The origin of the Etruscans (Rasennae) is 
still a matter of controversy, but they are by many of the best 
authorities assigned to the Indo-European family. 

7. The Unity of the Races in Italy. — From this brief 
sketch of the different races that inhabited Italy, we learn that, 
in spite of many diversities, they all belonged to one and the 
same great family whose home was in the western part of Cen- 
tral Asia. We are unable to fix definitely the time when they 
left their home or when they entered Italy. There is no doubt, 
however, that it took many years for them to wander from 
Asia to Europe, and that their arrival in 1 Italy was very gradual 
and extended over a long period of time. 

RACES IN ITALY. 

Indo-European 



Iaptgian Greek Italian Celtic Etruscan 



LATIN Umbro-Sebellian 



SlCULI AUSONES 



Umbrians Picentes Sebellian 



Sabines 



Samnites 
(Oscan) 



Marsi Volsci .ZEqui Hernici Eutuli P^ligni Frentani 



1 It may be assigned to about b. c. 2000. 



History of Eome. 



chapter i. 
The Foundation of Eome. 



1. The Primitive Civilization of the Latins. — With this 
brief introductory sketch of the geography of Italy, and of the 
different races that inhabited it, we now turn to the Latins as 
historically the most important, and as the race with which our 
history has particularly to do. The degree of civilization and 
the social condition that the Latins had attained on their en- 
trance into Italy are questions of much importance, because, in 
the absence of all written records, 1 the answer gives us a starting 
point for our history. This information, combined with what 
we know of their social and political condition at a later time, 
enables us to derive a tolerably correct idea of how their insti- 
tutions were formed. A careful study of the words of their 
language has given the starting point for these researches. 2 
Pursuing this investigation, we learn that the Latins be- 
fore they entered Italy, had learned the elements of agri- 
cult are, how to manage the plow, sow the seed, cultivate the 
vine, and press out the oil from the olive. With the knowl- 
edge of agriculture arose the necessity, for a time at least, for 
a fixed habitation and the domestic hearth. Hence the basis 
of the family was formed and the elements of religion devel- 
oped. That the habitation was not permanently fixed was 
owing to the pressure of later migrations and the contests with 

1 The whole history from the founding of Rome in b. c. 753 down to b. c. 390, when 
all the written records were burnt by the Gauls, is not derived from contemporary wit- 
nesses, but was composed at a later date. Some of the Roman historians, therefore, 
began their narrative at b. c. 390, instead of at the foundation of the city. What little 
we do know of the early history is mainly derived from inference. 

2 If the?e words are essentially the same in both Latin and Greek, it is pretty certain 
that the Latins and Greeks, before their separation in what is called the Grasco-Italian 
time, were acquainted with the objects that these words represent; e. g., Gr. 86fxos and 
Lat. domos, house; dporpw, aratrum, plow ; x°P T °s* hortus, garden; aypos, ager, a field, 
etc. ; hence, the house, the plow, etc., were nearly the Fame among both peoples. 



14 THE FOUNDATION OF KOME. 

other tribes. Hence the knowledge of war, and the use of the 
spear, the bow, and the war chariot. 

2. The Latins in Italy. — The basis of the social constitu- 
tion of the Latins was the households, which either by ties of 
blood or nearness of locality were united to form clans, and the 
dwellings formed the clan-villages. 1 These Tillages, although 
each had its own local government, were not regarded as inde- 
pendent, but as forming parts of a larger community, the can- 
ton. 2 Each canton had a local centre, 3 which was situated on 
some hill-top and was strongly fortified, where the markets were 
held, games celebrated, justice administered, and religious rites 
observed. The foundation of this clan-constitution was already 
laid when the Latins entered Italy and settled on the slopes of 
the Alban hills. Here, where the position was secure and the 
springs fresh, the oldest Latin towns, 4 such as Alba, Lanuvium, 
Tibur, Praeneste, Gabii, and Kome, were founded. How many 
cantons there were originally in Latium, it is impossible to 
tell ; tradition mentions thirty as forming the famous Latin 
league, at the head of which was Alba Longa, "the long white 
city," the oldest and most eminent of the Latin cantons. 

3. Rome a Latin Settlement. — Among the Latin cantons 
the Eoman, or at least its capital, Kome, was destined to be 
the most eminent. On one of the isolated hills on the left 
bank of the Tiber, about eighteen miles from its mouth, settled 
a tribe of Latins called Ramnes or Romans. The Romans had 
their stronghold on the Palatine hill, and this laid the founda- 
tion of Rome. Its territory extended at that time little more 
than five miles to the east and south, while it embraced the 
suburbs of the hill Janiculus on the right bank, and the whole 
course of the Tiber down to its mouth. 5 The right of trade, 6 
and the home which it offered to adventurers, 7 combined with 
its favorable situation, account in a measure for the rapid 
growth of the city. Standing as it did on the Latin bank of 
the Tiber, three miles below its confluence with the Anio, it 
seemed admirably adapted to be the emporium of Latium. 

1 Vici or pagi. 2 Civitas, or populus. 3 Called capitolium, or "height." 

* See map, p. 4. 5 See map, p. 94. 6 Jus commercii. 7 Jus exilih. 



THE FOUNDATION" OF EOME. 15 

4. The Palatine City. — The original city occupied only 
the Palatine hill, from the shape of which it derived its 
name of "Square Kome" or Roma Quadrata. From the very 
first the city, according to the custom of the Latins, was en- 
compassed by a ring-wall 1 and the sacred belt of the pomerium? 
which could be extended only by those whose victories had 
enlarged the ftoman territories. Under the protection of the 
stronghold on the Palatine, suburbs grew up, forming almost 
from the first a city of seven hills, 3 within and distinct from the 
more famous seven hills of historic Eome. The Palatine city, 
even in its first beginning, was increased in power by its union 
with a Sabine canton. 

5. Sabine City. — On the Quirinal hill, which lay entirely 
beyond the bounds assigned to the circuit of Eome, was an 
independent city of Sabine origin. We have already learned 
that the Latins and Sabines were nearly related, and that the 
latter, issuing from their mountain home, had hemmed the 
Latins in on the east and south. A body of these bold adven- 
turers had settled on the Quirinal, and after coming in contact 
with the Eomans on the Palatine, had finally gained possession 
of their stronghold. This compelled the Eomans to form an 
alliance (foeclus) with the Sabine city, by which the two races 
were united and both helped to form the Eoman state. After 
their union the people were divided into two divisions or tribes, 
Eamnes and Tities, as they were called, and each tribe was 
divided again into ten curice or wards; and as the curia formed 
the basis of the union, the people were called Quirites? Their 
common place of meeting was in the comitiurn, between the 
Palatine and Quirinal hills. Tradition relates that the rule 
was to choose the king in turn from the Eomans of the Pala- 
tine and the Sabines of the Quirinal. 

6. The Union of the Romans and Sabines. — By the 
incorporation of the Sabine city, a conservative element was 

1 The recent excavations have brought to light portions of the original wall in five 
different places, enough to trace its situation with considerable precision. Of the three 
gates which penetrated the wall, the sites of but two have been found, Porta Mugonia 
and Porta Romana. 2 See colored map No. 2. 

3 Palatinus, Germalu«, Velia, Fagutal, Oopius, Cispius, Subura. 

4 By some the word Quirites is derived from quiris, a spear. Quirites and curia are 
probably from the same root, sku, cover ; cf . /apios /cupta, curare with A. S., hus, house. 



16 THE FOUKDATIOlSr OF EOME. 

introduced into the Koman state. From the situation of Eome, 
so favorable for trade and intercourse with foreigners, the 
Eomans had made greater ..advances in civilization, while the 
Sabines, loving agriculture and the rearing of the flock, held 
firmly to the pious customs of their ancestors. After the 
union of the two cantons, Eome was so much increased in 
power, that she was able to subdue the surrounding tribes and 
extend her boundaries. The Latin communities 1 on the upper 
Tiber, and between the Tiber and Anio, early forfeited their 
independence. A long contest was carried on with Gabii ; and 
Alba, the ancient metropolis of Latium, was subdued and 
destroyed, and the conquered population was moved to Eome 
and settled on one of the hills around the Palatine, called 
Mans Ccelius. Some of the most distinguished Alban families 2 
were admitted into the Eoman state on a footing of equality, 
and formed the third tribe, called Luceres. They were admit- 
ted to the curice and the senate, thus completing the number 
thirty and three hundred respectively. 

7. Rome the Capital of Latium. — Eome, after the 
destruction of Alba, the head of the thirty Latin cities, 
became the leading community in Latium and the recognized 
head of the Latin confederacy. The leadership of Eome over 
Latium was the more readily recognized from the fact that 
it was only by this means that the Latins could defend their 
coast against the Carthaginians and Hellenes, and their ex- 
tended frontier against the Etruscans and Sabellians. Eome 
was now able to extend her power over the iEqui and Sabini, 
and form an alliance with the Hernici. On her southern fron- 
tier she carried on a long contest with the Eutuli and Volsci, 
and in this direction the Latin colonies, as they were called, 
were planted by Eome and Latium. 

8. The Forum. — While the Latin stock was thus becoming 
united under the leadership of Eome, the city itself had been 
converted from a small commercial and agricultural town into 
a capital of a flourishing province. The intrench ments of the 

1 See map, p. 94. 

? The origin of the Luceres is very doubtful ; see Schwegler, Rom. Gesch., I. 505. 



THE FOUNDATION OF ROME. 



17 



seven hills now seemed inadequate for the defence of the 
capital of Latium, and hence was constructed the fortification 
ascribed to Servius Tullius, which enclosed not only the Pala- 
tine and Quirinal, but also the heights of the Aventine, Capito- 
line, Esquiline and Viminal hills, with a great ring-wall. 1 After 
the city had been protected from foreign foes, the necessity for 
internal improvement became more apparent. Hence the 
cloaca? or sewer, was constructed for draining the marshy val- 
ley 3 between the Palatine and Capitoline hills down to the 
Tiber. Here in this valley was located the comitium, the 
assembling place of the people, and in the comitium was the 
tribunal or judgment-seat, and the rostra (vetera) from which 
the people were addressed. The prolongation of the comitium 
towards the south 
and east formed 
the forum, which 
afterwards became 
the centre of the 
civil and political 
life of Eome. The 
forum was cut 
by streets, the 
most important of 
which was the via 
sacra,* or Sacred 
Way, ascending 
the declivity 5 of the Capitoline hill to the capitol, and along its 
sides were butchers' shops and traders' stalls. 6 On the north 




Cloaca Maxima. 
(In its present condition, 1879.) 



1 The wall is computed to have been about seven miles in circumference ; remains of 
it are found on the Aventine and Esquiline ; see colored map No. 2. • 

- The cloaca maxima is still to be seen under the platform of the Basilica Julia, and 
empties into the Tiber near the temple of Vesta. Several canalicolge, or tributary drains, 
have been recently discovered. 

3 The Forum Velabrum and Forum Boarium. 

* The course of the via sacra has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It probably 
entered the forum at the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and continued on the north 
side of the forum to a point a little beyond the temple of Julius Caesar, then turned 
directly south toward the temple of Concord, and then turned at right angles running 
along the front of the Basilica Julia. When the arch of S. Severus was erected, the via 
sacra was probably continued along the northern side of the forum ; this, however, 
cannot be determined until the forum is excavated between the temple of Julius Caesar 
and the arch of S, Severus. 5 Clivus Capitolinus. 

6 Tibernce veteres et nova. See map, p. 3S6. 



18 THE FOtWDATIOK OF HOME. 

side of the forum was the senate house, called from the builder 
curia Hostilia. On the south side, beneath the Palatine hill, 
rose the temple of Vesta with its eternal fire, and the regia or 
the official dwelling house of the king. 1 

9. Growth of Rome. — In the valley between the Pala- 
tine and Aventine hills 2 a space was set aside for the circus, 2, 
where games, chariot-racing and boxing were celebrated once 
every year in honor of the three gods to whom the capitol was 
built. Temples and sanctuaries arose on the other summits, as 
the temple of Diana, the representative of the Latin confed- 
eracy on the Aventine, and above all, on the summit of the 
Capitoline, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinns, 4 dedicated to the 
three great gods of the Latin and Sabine races, Jupiter, Juno, 
and Minerva. 



chapter ii. 
The Early Government of Rome. 

1. The Form of Government. — The government of the 
people of these three cantons at this early time was very simple. 
It was modeled on that of the Koman household, in which the 
father 5 ruled over all its members and descendants with absolute 
authority. 6 As the union of several households formed the 
clan, 7 so the union of several clans formed the tribe. 8 After 
the admission of the Sabines 9 and the Albans 10 into the com- 
munity on a footing of equality, the number of tribes or parts 

1 The other building attributed to this period, remains of which still exist, is Career 
Mamerfinus, or prison, built over the well, or Tullianum. 

2 Vallis Murcia. 

3 This was the circus maximus, and the beginning of the great Roman games {ludi 
maximi Romani). 

* The exact location of this temple has been in modern times a matter of dispute ; 
the Italian topographers placing it on the northern summit, which is now occupied by 
the church and monastery of Aracoeri, and the arx with the temple of Juno Moneta on 
the southwestern point of the hill. German scholars have reversed this order. The 
recent excavations for the new German Archaeological building and inscriptions discov- 
ered by Dr. Henzen have set this question at rest, fixing the site of the temple definitely 
on the' northwestern summit near where the Carfarelli palace is. See p. 37. 

5 Paterfamilias. * Patria potest as. 7 Gens, or house. 

8 That is, part (tribus) of the whole community. This division had reference prima- 
rily to the people, but it was also applied to their lands so far as they were divided. As 
the curies were made up of the gentes (theoretically ten in each curia), there is not much 
doubt but that the curies had their own lands. This division into curies had a religious 
as well as a political significance. The two peoples met and voted by curies for judicial 
purposes, and the levies and valuations were made by curies. Each curia wa* under the 
charge of a special warden (curio), and had a priest of its own (flamen curialis). See 
p. 34. 9 See p. 5. 10 Seep. 16. 



THE EARLY GOVERNMENT OE ROME. 19 

of the community, was increased to three, named respectively 
Bamnes, Titles, and Luceres, each of which was divided into ten 
curice, or wardships, and each curia into ten houses or gentes. 

2. The King. — To rule this enlarged family or household 
of the Koman state, there was selected one from its own ranks, 
called the king; 1 who ruled for life and exercised the same 
unlimited authority over the community that the father exer- 
cised in the household. The king possessed the supreme civil 2 
and military 3 power ; that is, he commanded the army, admin- 
istered justice, and presided whenever he summoned the whole 
community 4 or the heads of the different clans 5 to consult 
them concerning any measure of public policy. He was also the 
high-priest of the nation, for he alone could mediate between the 
gods and the people, and perform the sacrifices for the state. 

3. The Senate. — Just as the father of a household could 
call the different members of the same clan together in case of 
need for consultation, so the king, in matters pertaining to 
the interest of all the clans collectively, or that of the whole 
community, selected the clan-elders, or heads of the most 
influential families 6 to form a state council, called the senate 7 
or "council of elders." The senate consisted of three hundred 
members, because it was intended that each of the three hun- 
dred houses that composed the community should be repre- 
sented in the senate. The senators held their seats for life, and 
in case of death the king filled the vacancy. The senate was 
merely a consultative body, free to give advice, but with no 
means to enforce its acceptance. 

4. The Comitia Curiata.— The king could convene the 
members 8 of the different families that formed the state to a 
popular assembly called comitia curiata, to decide such matters 
of general importance as he chose to lay before them, The king- 
presided, and the voting was done by curies, that is, there were 
thirty votes, as the members of each curia formed one vote. This 

1 Rex, "leader" and "commander," dictator or "master of the people,' 1 magister 
populi. " Regia potesta*. 3 Regium imperium. 

4 Comitia curiata, i. e., the heads of the families and their grown-up sons. 

5 Regiirm concilium. 

6 The number in the senate corresponded to the number of clans. 7 Senatus. 

8 Patres familias patriciaricm gentium etfiliifamilias, i. e., the chiefs of the families 
and their sons. 



20 THE EARLY GOVERNMENT OF ROME. 

assembly confirmed the election of the king, 1 the declaration of 
war or peace, enacted laws, and, when the king allowed, judged 
all matters pertaining to the life or privileges of the people. 

5. The Army. — In case of war each tribe furnished for the 
common defence 1000 foot-soldiers and 100 horsemen or equites, 
each under the command of an officer called the tribune. The 
quota from the three tribes, the 3000 foot-soldiers and the 300 
horsemen, formed the army or legion. 

6. The Patricians. — The members of those families that 
formed the state, exercised exclusively all the political power 
and enjoyed all the honors. They alone rendered service in 
the army and constituted the people or pojndus. 2 They guarded 
their privileges with great jealousy ; and that they might be 
enjoyed by them and their descendants alone, they denied to all 
foreigners the right of intermarriage. 3 When any member of 
one of these clans concluded a marriage in the usual form, the 
children received the same rights that their father enjoyed, and 
hence they were called "fathers' children," or patricians. 4 All 
others were not regarded as members of the community, and 
were entirely destitute of political rights. 

7. Clients. — By the side of the patricians there existed an 
inferior class, the clients, to whom the patricians stood in the 
relation of patron. 5 They were originally prisoners in war, 
subject not as the plebeians were to the state, but to the dif- 
ferent heads 6 of the great patrician houses, whose lands they 
cultivated, or under whose protection they carried on trade. It 

1 It was to the heads of all the families, ihepatres, and not to the few represented in 
the senate, to which the full power (summa potestas) returned in case the king d^ed. All 
the heads of families (patresfamilias patriciarum gentium) assembled on the death of the 
king in a council (concilium patrum) and chose from their number a temporary king (in- 
terrex) for live day*, and he nominated his successor. To the second interrex or his suc- 
cessors belonged the duty of nominating a king for life. This new king must, however, 
before being installed in office, receive "the authority from the fathers" (pafrum 
auctoritas) to convoke the comitia curiata, i. e., the body of patricians before which he 
laid for their approval the lex curiata de imperio, by which the people (i. e , the fathers and 
their grown-up sons) delegated to him the power to command the army, impose taxes 
(tributum) or fines (multaz dictio), and decide absolutely in regard to the life or death (jus 
vitcB necisque) of a member of the community. By some authorities the right of electing 
the king is assigned to the senators, i. e., to those heads of the families represented in the 
senate, instead of to the heads of all the families assembled in a council. Mommsen, 
who thinks that plebeian families were represented in the senate, assigns the election of 
the king to the patrician part of the senate. The view presented in the text accords with 
the tradition, and seems more satisfactory, because the full power ought to return, on 
the death of the king, to the heads of all the families, and not to those who happened to 
be represented in the senate. See p. 50, n. 3. 

2 They were calle:! Populus Romanvs Qvirites, but in their civil capacity simply Qui- 
rites. 3 Jus connubii. * Patricii. 5 Patronus. 6 Patresfamilias. 



IHE EARLY GOVERNMENT OF ROME. 21 

was the duty of the patron to protect the public and private 
interests of his clients, and they in turn were obliged to aid 
and support the patrician to whom they were bound in every 
way. 

8. Slaves. — There were also the slaves, 1 who had no per- 
sonal and political rights, but were the mere property of their 
master, and could be bought and sold at pleasure. 

9. Plebeians. — In addition to these three classes, there 
gradually grew up another class, the plebeians, 2 as they were 
called, from not being like the patricians members of the 
curies. This class was composed of the former inhabitants of 
conquered towns, 3 — particularly the members of the Latin 
communities and the Tusci in Etruria, who sought protection 
in Eome from the victorious Easennse, 4 — and others who had 
fled to Rome for refuge. 5 They were personally free, could 
acquire and bequeath property and engage in trade, but were 
entirely without political rights. 

10. The Reform of Tarquinius Priscus. — In consequence 
of the rapid growth of territory and the removing of large 
masses of population to Eome, the plebeians constantly in- 
creased in numbers and soon demanded a share in the political 
privileges of the state. This demand was met first by the 
reform which tradition attributes to Tarquinius Priscus. 6 The 
reform was brought about by inserting into the existing tribes 
and curice the most important plebeian families, 7 not on a 
footing of equality, but in the subordinate relation of the 
second Eamnes, Tities and Luceres. The king, by virtue of 
his power to fill up the senate, 8 added a hundred new mem- 



1 Servi. 2 Plebs, multitude. 3 Pellegrini dediticii. * Vicus Tuscus. 5 Transfugaz. 

6 The king wished to incorporate the plebeians into the state by adding three new 
tribes ; but as every change in the constitution must receive the sanction of the patres 
(patrum auctoritas) in their assembly by curiae (concilium curiatum), and this must be 
ratified by the whole people (jussus populi) in the comitia curiata, he was unable to 
accomplish it. This opposition tradition has expressed in the story of the Sabine 
augur Attus Navius, who said that the patres (i. e., the Sabines) refused their authority, 
and that the auspices were unfavorable. The story runs that the king, in order to test 
the augur, asked him if what he was thinking of could be done. Tiie augur replied, 
after consulting the auspices, that it could. Thereupon the king said, "I was thinking 
that thou shouldst cut this whetstone with a razor." Navius took the razor and imme- 
diately cut the stone in two. In consequence of this miracle the king gave up his design. 
The knife and the stone were buried in the forum, and a statue of Attus Navius was 
erected there to commemorate the miracle he had wrought. 

7 Cooptatio. 8 Lectio senatus. 



THE EARLY GOVERNMENT OF ROME. 



bers, called patres minorum gentium, to distinguish them from 
the old senators who were termed patres w,ajorum gentium. 
The number of equites was increased to six hundred. 

11. The Reform of Servius Tullius. — The reform begun 
by Tarquinius is said to have been carried out by his successor, 
Servius Tullius. His object was to incorporate the whole body 
of plebeians into the state. This he did by a new division 
of the people, in which he assigned to property the influence 
which formerly belonged to birth. The reform was based on 
the principle that taxes 1 and military service should devolve 
upon the freeholders 2 or the wealthy, 3 whether they were 
patricians or plebeians. He divided the whole Eoman terri- 
tory into four tribes, and the whole population subject to 
military service and possessing two or more jugera* of land, 
into five classes, according to their property. The position of 
every citizen in the classes was determined by a census, which 
was a register of the citizens and their property. There were 
170 centuries of infantry — 80 from the first class, 30 from the 
fifth, and 20 from the other three — 18 of cavalry, and 5 of 
musicians, armorers and carpenters, in all 193 centuries. 

12. The first class embraced those who possessed a normal 
farm 5 of about 20 jugera ; 6 the other classes possessed respec- 
tively f , \, J, T V as much. The first class was divided into 
infantry 7 and cavalry, 8 and all five classes into senior es and 

1 Tribidum. 2 Assidui. 3 Locupletes. 4 Jugerum, about | of an acre. 

5 The census— of the first class 100,000 asses or more, and of the others 75,000, 50,000, 
25,000, and 11,000 respectively— was not until the time of Appius Claudius (b. c. 312) 
expressed in money. The following table will show the census of each class, and number 
of centuries it contained : 

I. Housemen, or Knights. 

1. 6 old centuries, sex svffragia — census first class. 

2. 12 new centuries, " " 

II. Foot. 
1st class, 80 centuries (40 of seniores, 40 juniores), census 100,000 asses. 
2d " 20 " (10 " 10 " ), " 75,000 " 

3d " 20 " (10 " 10 " ), " 50^000 " 

4th " 20 " (10 " 10 " ), " 25.000 " 

5th " 30 " (15 " 15 " ), " 11,000 " 

1 century of proletarii, census under 11,000 asses. 
4 centuries of musicians and workmen, census none. 
Total, 193 centuries. 
Dionysius gives the census of the 5th class 12,500 asses. 

At the time (b. c. 268) silver coinage was introduced, 10 asses = 1 silver denarius = 
about 20 cents. This is about the time that the census was expressed in money : 1,000 
asses - $20. 

6 Heredium, 7 Pedites. 



THE EAELY GOVEKXMENT OF KOME. 23 

juniores. The younger men, from seventeen to forty -five years 
of age, were employed for service in the field ; the elder, from 
forty-five to sixty, were retained at home for the defence of the 
city. All the classes had to provide their own arms and armor. 

13. The Armor. — The first class appeared in full armor, 
with shield of brass, 1 helmet, 2 cuirass, 3 greaves, 4 spear 5 for 
attack, and sword, 6 and fought in the front rank of the pha- 
lanx. The second class 7 was placed behind the first. They 
wore no cuirass, but had instead a large wooden shield 8 cov- 
ered with leather. The third class had the same except the 
greaves ; and the fourth carried only the shield, spear and 
sword. The fifth class did not serve in the phalanx, but 
fought outside with darts and slings. 9 

Besides these classes, there were the non-freeholders, 10 who 
furnished four centuries of workmen and musicians, and one 
century of substitutes, who marched with the army unarmed, 11 
and, when vacancies occurred, took their places in the ranks. 
These five classes formed the infantry and cavalry. The cav- 
alry was taken from the first class, and twelve new centuries 
were added, thus increasing the number to eighteen. 

14. The Comitia Centuriata. — This was the military 
order of the people. The same order was observed when the 
king summoned them from time to time to meet outside of 
the city, on the campus Martins, to consult them concerning 
war or peace, laws or elections, or other important matters. 
This assembly was called the comitia centuriata, and each cen- 
tury had one vote, which was decided by the majority of indi- 
vidual voters. The tendency of this system was to place in the 
hands of the wealthiest — who formed the eighty centuries of 
the first class, and the eighteen centuries of equites — whether 
patricians or plebeians, the chief power. 

In case of war the levy, 12 sufficient to form two legions of 
4,250 men each, was made by tribes from the 85 centuries of 
juniores. Of the 8,500 men, each tribe furnished 2,125. 



10 Proletarii. 

11 Velati. 

1 2 Delectus, 



1 Clipeus. 


4 Ocrew. 


7 Prwcipes. 


2 Galea. 


5 Hasta. 


8 Scutum. 


3 Lorica. 


6 Gladius. 


9 LarAdes missiles. 









24 



THE EAELY G0VEK3TMENT OF HOME. 



15. This constitution, while it gave the plebeians a share 
in the defence of the state, and placed them side by side with 
the patricians in the five classes of citizens, where nothing pre- 
vented them from reaching the highest, left all the old priv- 
ileges — the right to elect the interrex, take the auspices, 1 
eligibility to the senate and comitia curiata, the power to 
authorize or not the chief magistrate 2 to appear before the 
comitia curiata for them to ratify 3 his election, or any change 
in the constitution which he might propose — of the patricians 
untouched. 

16. The Lustrum. — After completing his arrangements, 
Servius Tullius performed a solemn purification of the city and 

people. He summoned the 
whole people to assemble in 
full armor in the camptts 
Martins, ranked according 
to classes and centuries. The 
sacrifices, 4 consisting of a 
pig, sheep and ox, were car- 
ried three times around the 
assembled multitude, 5 and 
then offered to Mars. After 
that the king prayed to the 
gods to bless and preserve 
the people. This ceremony 
was preserved under the re- 
public as the closing act of 
the census, and as the cen- 
sus was regularly taken once in five years, the word lustrum 
was frequently used to denote that space of time. 

1 Jus auspiciorum. 2 Patrum auctoritas. 3 Lex cuHata de imperio. 

* Suovetaurilia (from sus, pig ; oris, sheep ; taurus, ox). 5 Hence called ambilustrium. 

G The expiatory sacrifice was performed as the closing act of the census, and also after 
the triumph. The engraving is from the arch of Constantine, and shows the sacrifice 
performed by Trajan (i=ee p. 458) in presence of his army. The emperor surrounded by his 
army bearing vexilla (standards made by fastening cloth to a transverse piece of wood) and 
the signa (the eagle-standards, one being decorated with portraits and the other plain ; 
the vexillum to the left has a decorated pole) is pouring a libation on the burning altar. 
The animals are led forward by servants ; a camillus offers a box of incense to the 
emperor, while the trumpeters are intoning the fanfare. In the bas-relief of the sacrifice 
at the lustrum the censor stands at the left inserting the names of citizens and soldiers in 
the census list ; two musicians are playing the cithara and flute respectively, while a priest 
pours the libation into a vase presented by a camillus ; the animals arc crowned and led 
forward by servants, while another servant carries a box of incense on his shoulder. 




ilia 1 

Suovetaurilia. 



THE HISTORY OF THE REGAL PERIOD. 25 



chapter iii. 

The History of the Regal Period — Its Credibility — 
Livy's Narrative — Other Sources. 

1. The chief authorities for the history of the regal period 
are Livy and Dionysius of Halikarnassus. They both wrote 
their histories in the time of Augustus, and, so far as this period 
is concerned, nearly one thousand years after the events they 
relate. It is true they gained their information from the annal- 
ists ; but the oldest of these, Fabius Pic tor and Cincius Alimen- 
tus, did not live earlier than the time of the second Punic war. 

2. Early Records.— For the time after the regal period 
they no doubt made use of contemporary records, as the annates 
rnaximi, chronological lists of events kept by the pontifex max- 
imus, of the inscriptions 1 in the houses of the great families, 
enumerating the magistracies they had held, or of other archives, 
which were preserved with great care at Rome. But for the 
regal period there were very few public documents of any kind. 
This is not surprising, for the art of writing was only intro- 
duced into Rome in the time of Tarquinius Priscus, and proba- 
bly for many centuries after its use was confined to the few ; 
and further, most public and private records were destroyed in 
the burning of the city by the Gauls (b. c. 389). 

3. Oral Tradition. — The only information, then, which the 
historians and annalists had of the regal period was, in the main, 
oral tradition, which in the lapse of time became so changed 
that but little reliability could be placed in it as a groundwork 
for history. 2 This unwritten tradition, however, which had 

1 These were inscriptions under the wax portraits which stood in the Atrium, record- 
ing the magistracies held by the distinguished members of the family. 

2 Livy (vi. 1^ realized this, for he says : The history of this period is obscure, partly 
from great antiquity, like objects rendered almost imperceptible by their distance, 
partly because in these times the use of letters, the only faithful guardian of the mem- 
ory of events, was inconsiderable and rare, and besides whatever was contained in the 
commentaries of the pontiffs or other public or private records, perished for the most 
part in the burning of the city. 



26 THE HISTOEY OF THE EEGAL PERIOD. 

grown up in the course of so many centuries, and which often 
gave contradictory narratives of the same event, the early his- 
torians accepted without hesitation. In this way it came to 
pass that even in regard to the foundation of the city no less 
than twenty-five different accounts were developed. The one 
that was accepted with the most favor, attributing the origin 
of Koine to a Trojan colony, was reduced to its present form 
by Fabius Pictor, the first prose writer at Rome, and adopted 
by Vergil and Livy. 

4. Livy's Account of the Origin of Rome.— According 
to this legend, iEneas, the son of Anchises, having collected a 
few friends, fled after the fall of Troy to seek a new home. 
After various adventures he arrived on the coast of Italy, and 
was hospitably received by the king Latinus, who made a 
league with him and gave him his daughter Lavinia in mar- 
riage. iEneas then built a town and called it in honor of his 
wife Lavinium. After the death of iEneas, his son Ascanius 
became king. He left Lavinium and built a new city on Mt. 
Albanus, which he called Alba Longa. The succession con- 
tinued in his family until the time of JSTumitor, the son of 
Procas, who w^as deprived by his younger brother Amulius of 
his throne. Amulius, that he might retain the government; 
killed the son of Numitor, and made his daughter, Rhea Silvia, 
a vestal virgin, in order that she might remain unmarried. 
But when she bore the twins, Romulus and Remus, to the. god 
Mars, the king ordered her to be killed and the twins thrown 
into the Tiber. 

5. Romulus and Remus. — At this time it happened that 
the Tiber had overflowed its banks, forming shallow pools. In 
one of these the servant of the king placed the cradle with the 
children, thinking that it would float down the stream and then 
sink. The gods watched over the children, and the cradle was 
wafted to the foot of the Palatine, where it was overturned by 
the roots of a wild fig-tree, near the cave of the god Lupercus. 
The water subsiding left the boys on dry land. Here they were 
suckled by a she-wolf from the cave of Lupercus until they 
were found by the shepherd Faustulus, who took them to his 



THE HISTOEY OF THE REGAL PERIOD. 27 



wife, Acca Larentia, to be brought up with his own children, 
and called them Eomulus and Eemus. The two brothers dis- 
covered the mystery of their birth by accident, and restored the 
throne to their grandfather, Numitor. 

6. The Foundation of Rome.— They determined to leave 
Alba, and found a city on one of the hills by the Tiber, where 
they had been brought up. But as neither of the brothers 
would yield to the other, there arose a quarrel between them 
and their followers, who should give a name to the new city and 
govern it. It was agreed to let the gods decide the question 
by a sign from the sacred birds. Eomulus and his followers 
took their station on the Palatine, and Eemus on the Aventine. 
Eemus first saw six vultures, but Eomulus straightway after 
saw twelve. Each claimed the augury in his own favor, one on 
account of the priority of time, the other on account of the 
number of birds. The shepherds, however, decided in favor of 
Eomulus, who built the town on the Palatine 1 and called it 
Eome, from his own name. He then drew a furrow round it 
with the sacred plow, and along by the furrow he built a wall 
which marked the line or sacred belt of the pomerium. Eemus, 
in derision, leaped over the new built wall, whereupon Eomulus 
slew him, saying: " So shall every one die who dares to leap 
over these walls." 

7. The War with the Latins. — In order to people his 
new city, Eomulus opened an asylum 2 or place of refuge on the 
Oapitoline hill, to which he invited the lawless and discontented 
from all the country round. These he received, protected, and 
made them citizens of his new town. Women were wanting, 
and he applied to the neighboring cities to give their daughters 
in marriage. This they scornfully refused. When Eomulus 
heard this, he concealed his anger, but presently invited the 
dwellers round about to come to Eome, with their wives and 
children, to see the games which he was going to celebrate in 



1 According to the Varronian era, Rome was founded April 21, 753, on the day of the 
Palilia. This is generally accepted. The other principal eras, as those of Cato, 751 B.C.; 
of Polybius, 750 b.c; and of Fabius Pictor, 747 b.c In practice the era of Varro is 
reckoned from Jan. 1, 753. 

3 Plut. Rom. 



28 THE HISTORY OF THE EEGAL PERIOD. 

honor of the god Consus. The Sabines and Latins came in 
great crowds, and when all were intent on the games, the 
Komans rushed on their guests and carried away the young 
women. The parents returned home and prepared to take 
vengeance on Eomulus and his people. First, the men of the 
Latin towns, Caenina, Antemnse, and Crustumerium, rushed to 
arms, but these were defeated by Romulus, who slew with his 
own hand Acron, king of Caenina, and dedicated his armor, 
as spolia opima, to Jupiter. 

8. War with the Sabines. — The Sabines, who lived 
farther up the mountains, next raised an army and marched 
to Eome, and encamped on the Quirinal hill, directly oppo- 
site the capitol. Now one day when Tarpeja, the daughter 
of the warden of -the capitol, went out to draw water, the 
Sabines begged her to open the gate to the citadel. This 
she promised to do if they would give her what they wore on 
their left arms, meaning the gold bracelets and rings. When 
they had penetrated into the citadel, they threw their heavy 
shields, which they wore on their left arms, on Tarpeja, and 
crushed her to death. The Romans attempted to recover 
the hill, and the two armies met in the valley between the 
Palatine and the Capitoline. The champion of the Romans 
was Hostus Hostilius, and that of the Sabines Mettus Curtius. 
The Sabines prevailed and were pursuing the Romans from the 
Velia up the hill, when Romulus vowed a temple to Jupiter 
Stator, 1 the Stayer of Flight. The Romans stopped and renewed 
the battle, and drove the Sabines back towards the Capitoline 
hill. Then it was that Mettus Curtius sank with his horse 
into the marsh and nearly perished. The place where this 
happened was called the Lake of Curtius. At length the Sabine 
women rushed between the combatants and- prayed their hus- 
bands and fathers to be reconciled. The prayer was heard, and 
the chiefs of the two peoples made peace. 

9. The Union of the Romans and Sabines. — It was 
agreed that the Sabines should remain in Rome and the two 

1 The temple of Jupiter Stator was situated near the Porta Mugionis. Remains of 
tufa blocks belonging to an ancient restoration of the temple have been foun£. 



THE HISTOEY OF THE REGAL PERIOD. 29 

peoples form one nation. The Eomans stiJl occupied the 
Palatine, and the Sabines the Quirinal under their king Titus 
Tatius, who reigned jointly with Eomulus. The united people 
were called Eomans and Quirites, 1 because Tatius came from 
the city of Cures. The two peoples met to transact their affairs 
in common in the valley between the two hills, which w r as called 
comitium, or the place of meeting. Titus Tatius quarreled 
with the men of Laurentum, and while offering sacrifices at 
Lavinium was slain. From this time Eomulus reigned alone 
over the two peoples, and made laws to govern them in peace 
and war. 

10. The Constitution of Romulus.— First of all he 
divided his people into patricians and clients. He then divided 
the patricians into three tribes, the Eamnes, Tities and Luceres, 
and each of the three tribes into ten curies. The patricians, 
when they assembled to vote or make laws, came each in his 
curia, and each curia had one vote decided by the majority of 
voters in it. The curia was composed of the heads of the houses, 
which also had their own laws, customs, and sanctuaries. The 
clients were the dependents of the patricians, whom they were 
to protect in every way against injustice. From the patricians 
he chose a hundred of the oldest and wisest to be his council of 
senators. Out of the young men he chose a legion of 3,000 foot- 
soldiers and 300 horsemen, according to the number of the three 
tribes and curies, out of every curia 100 foot-soldiers and ten 
horsemen. 

The story goes on in the same mythical vein to tell how, 
after a reign of thirty-seven years, Eomulus was suddenly 
removed from the world while reviewing his people on the 
campus Martins. There arose suddenly a fearful storm, the 
sun was darkened, but when daylight returned Eomulus had 
disappeared. His father, Mars, had carried him up to heaven 
in a fiery chariot. His people mourned for him until Proculus, 
a senator, said that on his way to Alba Eomulus had met him and 
promised to protect the Eomans under the name of Quirinus. 

3. . , m 

* JTor tke derivation, see p. 16, note, 



30 THE HISTOEY OF THE KEGAL PERIOD. 

11. The Legend attributes the introduction of the religious 
institutions, the reformation of the calendar, the formation of 
the guilds,* and the erection of a temple to Janus, at the 
entrance of the forum, the gates of which were opened during 
war and closed in time of peace, to Numa Pompilius. 1 Tullus 
Hostilius broke the power of the Latins and destroyed Alba. 
Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa, built the port of Ostia, 
the fortress on the Janiculus, a bridge across the Tiber, and 
laid the foundation of the plebeian order by the settlement he 
gave to the conquered people on the Aventine. 

12. The Etruscan Dynasty. — After this, the state assumed 
a new character from the accession of an Etruscan dynasty of 
three kings. The first, Tarquinius Priscus, defeated the Sabines 
and took Collatia, subdued the Etruscans, doubled the number 
of noble houses in each tribe by enrolling plebeians, commenced 
the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, built the cloaca maxima, laid 
out the circus in the valley of Murcia, and introduced games 
from Etruria. The second, Servius Tullius, devised the new 
constitution, concluded a treaty with the Latins, erected a tem- 
ple of Diana on the Aventine as a federal sanctuary of the Latin 
and Roman people. The third, Tarquinius Superbus, formed 
an alliance with Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, established 
the Latin games on the Alban Mount to Jupiter Latiaris, waged 
war on the Volscians, and took their most important town, 
Suessa Pometia, from the spoils of which he finished the temple 
of Jupiter Capitolinus, completed the sewers begun by Tar- 
quinius Priscus, obtained the Sibylline books from Cumae, 
sent his two sons to consult the Delphian oracle, and finally 
ruling with insolence, and endeavoring to build up his arbitrary 
power on the destruction of the nobility, was driven from the 
throne, and the monarchy which had endured two hundred and 
forty-four years ended with his reign, and the era of the republic 
began. 2 

13. The Value of this Narrative.— However much the 
story of the expulsion of Tarquinius and ail his house may have 

* c "■ . 

* See p. 398, n, 8, x But. Numa. s See p. 45. 



THE HISTORY OF THE REGAL PERIOD. 31 

been interwoven with anecdotes, it cannot in its leading outlines 
be called in question. There can be no doubt but that the last 
king was a cruel and arbitrary tyrant ; that he neglected to 
consult the senate and complete its numbers ; that he unjustly 
pronounced sentence of death and confiscation against the lead- 
ing members of the great houses, in order to weaken them in 
influence and numbers, that he might the easier build up his 
own arbitrary power; and that he finally exacted from the peo- 
ple military labors and task work beyond what was due. These 
measures, which threatened to convert the government of the 
state into an arbitrary despotism, united the two parties, patri- 
cians and plebeians, against him. The exasperation of the 
people was attested by their vow never again to tolerate a king. 
In regard to the other events, the acts of each king, how many 
kings there were, and how many years each reigned, and how 
long the regal period lasted, the tradition, interwoven with 
inconsistencies ,and improbabilities, at one time attributing 
institutions to bne person and then the same to another, is 
utterly untrustworthy. The full extent of these inconsisten- 
cies, and the vast number of traditional histories, entirely incon- 
sistent with each other, are not generally known, because the 
history of the regal period is usually learned from Livy. When 
we, however, compare Livy's narrative of events with those of 
other writers, we then become aware of the uncertainty which 
prevailed even among the Eomans themselves. 

14. Other Sources. — Still, while rejecting the traditional 
history in the main, we must remember that it is essentially of 
Eoman origin, and closely interwoven with their manners and 
customs, and localities. This, taken in connection with what 
we learn from other sources in regard to the Eoman people, 
enables us in a measure to eliminate much that is uncertain, and 
deduce a tolerably true and consistent history of the political 
and civil institutions, and of the religious and social customs of 
the Eomans, even in this early period of their history. These 
other sources are: (1) the excavations which have recently been 
made in the very locality where the events were transacted; 
(2) the study of comparative philology, which has discovered 



32 THE HISTOKY OF THE REGAL PERIOD. 

that the different races in Italy belonged to the Indo-European 
family, that the Komans, when they first appeared on the stage 
of history as a separate people, had already in the Grseco-Italian 
time passed through a long period of development, and that the 
groundwork of their religious, social, and legal life had already 
been formed; Q)) the physical geography of the country, which 
teaches how far the development of peoples is influenced by 
climate and the peculiar formation of their country; (4) the 
later history, which enables us in some instances to draw infer- 
ences in regard to the earlier history. 

15. The Results. — From a study of these sources, certain 
broad conclusions have been arrived at, the chief of which have 
already been indicated. They may be summed up in the steady 
growth of the city until it became the head of Latium, and 
derived wealth and commercial importance from its favorable 
position. A constitution based on a patriarchal aristocracy, 
with an elective monarchy at its head, was modified by the 
introduction of new elements, chiefly from the conquered states. 

Soon the necessity arose for incorporating this new element 
with the state. This was done by organizing a new military 
system, which made property instead of birth the principle of 
division. From this time the plebeians could no longer be 
kept separate as a distinct and inferior class, but under the 
new constitution won after long and weary contests a position 
in the state. The last king, seeking to convert his government 
into an arbitrary despotism, was expelled by both patricians 
and plebeians, whom the common danger had for the moment 
united, but who differed again as soon as the peril was over. 
This change in the government, originating in the desire to 
limit the power of the chief magistrate, at least in point of 
time, was the result of the natural development of the consti- 
tution. For not only at Eome, but in the other Latin states, 
and even in Greece, at about the same time, the rulers for life 
were superseded by annual magistrates. 



THE KELIGIO^" OF THE EOMAHS. 33 



CHAPTER rV. 

The Religion of the Romans. 

1. It is necessary before passing to the history of the Repub- 
lic, to glance at the religion of Rome, because it exercised a 
decided influence on the government of the state. We have 
already learned that the groundwork of the religion of the 
Greeks and Romans was laid 1 before their separation. The 
Romans brought their own gods and own form of worship with 
them into the valley of the Tiber. The elements, then, of their 
religion, like their clan-constitution, were older than the state; 
the development was peculiar and characteristic of the Roman 
mind. 

2. The Worship of Nature. — The Roman was eminently 
religious. He saw the agency of the gods in everything. To 
him all nature, the heavens, the earth, the mountains, the 
rivers, swarmed with divine beings. Wherever he turned, 
whatever he undertook, whether at home, on his farm, or in 
the forum, he sought with scrupulous care to learn the will of 
the gods by prayer and offerings. The Roman, on his entrance 
into Italy, had the home and the domestic hearth, and had 
learned how to till the soil. The gods, then, whose protection 
he especially sought, were those of nature — of the forest, the 
field, the grove, the mountain, and the home. Hence the honor 
early paid to Jupiter and Juno, the god and goddess of the 
clear sky; to Saturnus, the seed-sower; to Tellus, the nour- 
ishing earth ; to Ceres, the goddess of germination and growth ; 
to Consus and Ops, the god and goddess of the harvest; to 
Pales, the goddess of the flocks ; and Jupiter, 2 the god of the 
vine. These were all worshiped with festivals, 3 each in his 
own proper month. 

1 Page n. 

2 Jupiter was worshiped under names according to the matter for which his aid was 
needed : as Jupiter Terminus, the god of boundaries ; Jupiter Elicius, the god of light- 
ning ; and in the Capitol as Jupiter Optimus Maximus. 

s The Saturnalia in December, the Tellilia, Cerialia, Palilia, and Vinalia in April t 



34 THE BELIGIOST OF THE KOMANS. 

3. The Lupercalian Feast. — The Romans heard, espe- 
cially, the voices of their gods in the stillness of the forest. 
Pliny calls the groves the first temples of the gods. Here 
before the trees, as before the altars of their gods, the Romans 
offered their devotions. The oak was sacred to Jupiter; the 
olive to Minerva. The fig-tree was an object of especial wor- 
ship, for it was near the fig-tree at the foot of the Palatine 
that the twins Romulus and Remus were found. Near by was 
the Lupercal, where the god Lupercus dwelt. His festival, 
called Lupercalia, was celebrated every year, on the 15th of 
February. After sacrificing to the god in his cave, the priests 
ran through the streets dressed in goats' skins, beating all those 
they met with strips of goats' leather. The year closed with 
the festival to Terminus, called the Terminalia, the god of 
boundaries. 

4. Other Forms of Worship.— The Roman gods loved 
to have their throne erected on the lofty hills, as Jupiter 
Latiaris on the Alban Mount, from the sacred summit of 
which he could survey the whole plain of Latium, and as the 
old Italian deity Apollo Soranus, the god of the sun, on Mount 
Soracte. In addition to these there was the worship of Vul- 
can, the god of fire and the forge ; of the Arval Brothers, who 
invoked in May the creative goddess Dea Oia to bless the 
growth of the seed ; that of the sailor to Neptune, the god of 
the sea, and Volturnus, the god of the Tiber. In fact, every 
person, house, curia, and tribe, had their own god, to whom 
they offered sacrifices and prayers. Particularly dear to the 
Roman was the worship of the goddess Vesta, with her eternal 
fire burning on the household hearth, the living symbol of the 
goddess. Her worship was intimately connected with that of 
the Penates, the protectors of the house, and of the Lares, the 
departed spirits of ancestors who watched over the family. 

5. Jupiter and Mars. — Besides these deities which watched 
over the fields, the flocks, and the house, the Romans also 
paid worship to Jupiter, the protector and preserver of the 
state, whom the Latins worshiped on the Alban Mount as 
Jupiter Latiaris, and the Romans as Jupiter Capitolinus* 



THE KELIGI0K OF THE ROMANS. 35 

The Ides* of each month were sacred to him, and a great fes- 
tival, the Fence Latitice, was celebrated once every year on the 
Alban Mount. By his side stood Mars, the protector of the 
citizens, the father of Romulus and the Eoman people; to 
whom March, the first month of their year, was consecrated, 
and to whom a great war festival was celebrated at the begin- 
ning and end of every campaign. 

6. The Worship of Quirinus. — After the union of the 
Palatine Romans with the Sabines on the Quirinal, the Roman 
religion, influenced by the addition of new and conservative 
elements, 1 entered upon a new period of development. Both 
tribes before their union had worshiped Jupiter and Mars as 
their supreme gods, and now in common they paid their devo- 
tions to Quirinus, the god of the united Ramnes and Tities. 
The point of union for the two tribes was found in the curia, 
which had a religious as well as a political significance. Each 
curia had its own place of worship, under the direction of the 
curio and his priest, the flamen curialis, and out of the thirty 
curice one was selected, called curio maximus, who presided 
over the whole. 

7. The State Religion.— We have learned that the Roman 
government was modeled on that of the family. The state reli- 
gion also found its counterpart in that of the household. As 
the family had its own domestic altar, so the state had a com- 
mon altar 2 in the temple of Vesta, the goddess of the house. 
Just as the family offered sacrifices on the domestic hearth, so 
the state offered sacrifices to the gods either in this temple or 
its rotunda, the so-called domus regia. In the regia were wor- 
shiped the two gods of the Ramnes and Tities, Jupiter and 
Mars, and that of the united people, Quirinus, and the old 
Latin deity Janus, god of the beginning and end of everything, 
and the one whom the Romans invoked before any other god. 
To him all gates and doors were sacred, and he therefore car- 
ried a key in his hand to open and lock them. He is always 
represented with two faces, one before and one behind, and 

* See p. 259, n. 3. * Page 15, a Focus publicus, 



36 THE EELIGIOItf OF THE ROMANS. 

hence called Bifrons, or Biceps. As the god of beginning he 
opened in the morning the gates of Olympus and closed them 
at evening. To him the month of January 1 was sacred, and 
the first day of the month, when the labors of the husbandman 
began anew, sacrifices of wine, incense and fruit were offered 
to him. He was invoked particularly at the beginning and end 
of every war. When the two cities on the Palatine and Quirinal 
were united, a gate called the Janus was erected in the comi- 
tium, through which their armies going or returning from war 
passed. This was always open in time of war and closed in 
time of peace, to signify that in peace the two communities 
were separate, but in war united for mutual protection. 

8. The Worship of Vesta. — In the temple of Vesta were 
worshiped Vesta and the Penates and Lares. The house near by 
was called the regia, because the worship due to the gods hon- 
ored there belonged to the king as high-priest of the nation. In 
order that it might never be neglected, on account of the other 
duties of the king, three priests, called flamines, were nominated 
for life to assist the king, viz.: the flamen Dialis, the priest of 
Jupiter, the god of the Kamnes, and his wife flaminica, corres- 
ponding to the pater familias and mater familias of the family; 
flamen Martialis, the priest of Mars, the god of the Titles, and 
flamen Quirinalis, the priest of Qnirinus, god of the united 
community. In the temple of Vesta were six virgins, virgines 
Vestales, daughters of the household of the Eoman state, to 
correspond with the filim familias, the daughters of the family. 
They kept the fire always blazing on the common household 
hearth. This was considered the most sacred worship in Eome. 
The king also had charge of the worship of the curies (and 
hence flamines curiales), and also general oversight over the 
college of Salii and Fratres Arvales. To the custody of the 
Salii was enti usted the care of the sacred shields, ancilia, which 
were kept ir f the temple of Mars on the Palatine, and every 
year, on the first of March, they made a solemn procession 
through the city, chanting hymns and dancing. There were 

1 When January "became the first month ? the opening of the year was also ascribe^ 
to him. 



THE KELIGIO^ OF THE KOMAKS. 37 



two sets of Salii, the Salii of Palatine and Quirinal, which com- 
memorated the union of the Eomans on the Palatine and the 
Sabines on the Quirinal. The Salii were twelve in number, 
and were always selected from the patricians. 

Th« unity of the Roman state after the banishment of the 
king was preserved by conferring those priestly duties which 
the king alone performed, upon a rex sacrorum or rex sac- 
rificulus and his wife regina sacrorum, both of whom performed 
their sacrifices in the regia, he to Jupiter, she to Juno. He 
was nominated by the pontifex maximus, and elected in the 
comitia curiata calata, 1 just like the king. He ranked higher 
than all other priests, but in influence and power was inferior 
to the pontifex maximus. He held his office for life like the 
king, but was not allowed to hold any political or military 
office, and was exempt from all civil and political duties. He 
lived on the via sacra in a domus publica. 

9. Jupiter Capitolinus. — Soon Eome extended her power 
over Latiam, and, as a common centre of worship for the 
enlarged state, dedicated the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 
Here the unity of the new nation was symbolized by the com- 
mon worship paid to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. In the 
building of the temple tradition relates that it was necessary 
to remove ancient shrines and altars erected there by the Sabines. 
The gods to whom these had been raised were consulted by 
auguries if they would give place to the new deities. All con- 
sented except Terminus and Youth, who refused to retire from 
the sacred spot. This gave Eome the assurance that her bounda- 
ries should never go back, and that her youth should ever be 
renewed. Here in his temple the statue of Jupiter himself was 
erected, with his face turned towards the forum, that he might 
look down upon his people. Until then the Eomrns had made 
no ideal pictures or statues of their god. They had only sym- 
bols, as a stone for Jupiter, the holy lance for Mans, the fire for 
Vesta, the altars and the consecrated space, 2 but now they 
learned from the Greeks how to represent their gods as men. 

1 Wata from the manner in which it was called, 2 Templum* 



38 THE KELIGION OF THE KOMANS. 

10. Grecian Influence. — Another evidence of Grecian 
influence was the introduction of the Sibylline books, as tradi- 
tion relates, from Oumae. The story runs that a strange woman 
came to Tarquin and offered nine books for sale. The king 
refused to buy the books. The Sibyl departed and burnt three; 
then returned offering the remaining six at the same price. 
The king again refused. The Sibyl then burnt three more, and 
demanded the same price for the remaining three. The curi- 
osity of the king was aroused ; he bought the books, and the 
woman vanished. The books were kept in a stone chest under 
the capitol in charge of two men, called dnoviri sacrorum. 
They were consulted by the order of the senate in time of 
great emergency or public calamity. Through their influence 
the worship of many Grecian deities was introduced, as that 
of Apollo, Latona, Mater Idaea and others. 

11. Divination. — The Eomans sought in many ways to 
know the wills of the gods. Besides consulting the Sibylline 
books, they had omens, prodigies, and divinations. That form 
of divination which was peculiarly national and characteristic 
of the Eoman ; was the observation of the auspices. No trans- 
action, public or private, took place without first consulting 
the auspices. The auspices were the signs from Jupiter to his 
people telling them what to do or not to do. For private acts 
the auspices could be taken by any one who belonged to the 
people; but for the state they could only be taken by some one 
who represented the state and who had been empowered to act 
as mediator between the state and the gods. This was at first 
the king, and in case of his death the patricians 1 and the 
interrex, and after the establishment of the republic the higher 
magistrates. The gods of the Eoman state then were the gods 
of the patricians, and they alone could mediate between them 
and the state. 

12. The Auspices. — In the regal period the auspicia 2 
belonged alone to the king, and in the times of the republic to 

1 When the king died the auspices returned to the patres (i. e. patres familias gen- 
tium patriciarum), and they in concilium curiatum nominated the interrex. 

2 7. «., ex co&lo and ex avihus, the other forms {ex tripudiis de coelo servare, ex quad- 
Tupedibus and ex diris) were later. 






THE RELIGION OF THE ROMANS. 39 

the magistrates, by virtue of election. The augur was only the 
assistant of the magistrate ; the lightning and the birds were 
not sent to him but to the magistrate ; he only interpreted 
them. In taking the auspices considerable technical knowl- 
edge was necessary, as the consecrated space l had to be marked 
off with the sacred wand, 2 the tent to be pitched, 3 and certain 
prayers and formulae repeated. Then the person taking the 
auspices waited for the favorable signs. If an interruption of 
any kind occurred, if the sacred chair rocked, if the wand fell, 
the auspices were rendered invalid. Great importance was 
attached to the phraseology of the prayer, for a mistake here, 
even in a single word, might call down the vengeance of Jupiter 
upon the state. Hence it was necessary that men particularly 
skilled in sacred lore should be appointed to assist the magis- 
trate and dictate the proper form of prayer. This led to the 
formation of three colleges of sacred lore, that of the augures, 
pontifices and fetiales. 

The College of Augures 4 was nominated from the patri- 
cian families by the king ; and their number, consisting at first 
of six, was increased to nine and then to sixteen. As no public 
act of any kind could be performed, no election could be held, 
no law passed, no war waged, without first taking the auspices, 
this gave the augurs, as interpreters of the will of the gods, and 
in whose hands the exclusive right was to declare 5 whether the 
omens were favorable or unfavorable, great influence and vir- 
tual control over every act of the state. This power they natu- 
rally used in the interest of their own order. In the great 
contest of the plebeians for equal rights in the state, the augurs 
not unfrequently used their power unfairly to render void the 
elections of consuls, the acts of the comitia, or any measure 
not in the interest of their own order, on the ground that the 
auspices had been irregular. 6 As there was no appeal from 
their decision, their veto was absolute. 



1 Templum. * Lituus. 3 Tabernaculum capere. 

Or auspices (from avis and spec-ere), in so far as they made the observation ; or 
augures (from avis, and a root which means to announce), in so far as they announced 
the result. J 

5 JSfuntiatio. e yitium. 



40 THE RELIGIOH OF THE KOMAKS. 

13. The Influence on the Government. — One of the 

arguments most strenuously urged against the admission of the 
plebeians to the consulship, was that the privilege of taking 
the auspices belonged to the patricians alone. On the same 
grounds the intermarriage of plebeians with the patrician order 
was opposed because the auspices must ever remain in the 
patrician families. The patricians alone knew the days 1 when 
civil suits could be heard, or when it was lawful to transact 
business with the people, 2 that is, when the comitia could meet. 3 
On the morning of the day when the comitia curiata was to as- 
semble, the magistrate who was to preside consulted the auspices. 
For this purpose an augur 4 must be present, and if he an- 
nounced by the words die alio that they were unfavorable, 5 
the comitia must be postponed. If, however, the auspices were 
declared favorable 6 by the words silentiitm esse videtur, the 
people were, after certain preliminary forms, 7 called together. 
If, however, it lightened, or a storm arose, or night came on, 
or the standard hoisted on the Janiculus was lowered, the 
assembly must disperse. If, in the time of the republic, a 
magistrate observed the heavens 8 for any purpose, and falsely 
declared that it thundered or lightened, the comitia must break 
up. In later times it was unlawful to hold the assembly if one 
of the higher magistrates announced that he was engaged in 
observing the heavens, or was going to observe the heavens on 
the day fixed for the comitia. This put it in the power of 
every magistrate to adjourn the comitia and thus impede hasty 
legislation. 

14. The College of Pontifices 9 was the most illustrious 
of all the religious institutions in the state. The pontiffs exer- 
cised, under the kings, a general supervision over the whole 
worship of the state, regulated the calendar on which the ti.me 



1 Dies fasti. 2 Cvm populo. 3 Dies comitiales. 

*Publicus. 5 Obnuntiatio. 6 Nuntiatio. 

7 These were three, viz.: (1) vocare inlicium, when the herald (accensus) invited them 
to the assembly ; (2) vocare conventionem, a meeting preparatory to the assembly ; (3) 
mittere in svffragium, the assembly in regular form for voting. 

8 Servare de coelo. 

9 The word pontifices is probably from pons, not in the sense of bridge, but of way, 
road ; they were called pontifices because they must keep in order the roads, especially 
the pons sublicius for the priestly processions. 



THE RELIGION" OE THE ROMANS. 41 



of the festivals depended, and with them rested the exclusive 
knowledge of the forms of procedure in the civil and religious 
courts. They not only determined what gods should be wor- 
shiped, and in what manner, but they exercised a general 
supervision over priests, magistrates, and even private indi- 
viduals. 'From their power to regulate the calendar, they added 
to or shortened the year, so as to lengthen the term of a favorite 
consul or to shorten that of one who displeased them. At their 
head stood the pontifex maximus, who was at first elected by 
the college itself, and in the time of the republic by the people. 
It was his duty to record the most important events of the 
year, to appoint the flamines, vest ales, and rex sdcrificulus, and 
exercise a general supervision 1 over the worship of the state. 
His official residence was in the clomus regia on the via sacra, 

15. The College of Fetiales 2 was the guardian of the 
public faith in all matters pertaining to foreign nations. It was 
their duty in case of dispute with a foreign state, to demand 3 
satisfaction. This was done by electing one from their number 
called pater patratus, w^hose duty it was, first, at the confines 
of the enemy's territory ; secondly, of the first native of the 
country whom he might chance to meet; thirdly, at the gate 
of the city, and finally in the market before the magistrate, to 
demand satisfaction. If this was not granted, then the king, 
first consulting the senate and then the people, again sent the 
pater patratus to the hostile country, who pronounced a decla- 
ration of war and hurled a spear tipped with blood across the 
boundary. 

The Fetiales were the first of the three great colleges to 
decline in influence, because the foreign relations of Eome 
soon extended beyond the confines of Italy. In the war with 
Pyrrhus, as the spear could not be hurled into the enemy's 
territory, to preserve the form a subject of Pyrrhus, a prisoner 
of war at Rome, was compelled to purchase a piece of land in 
the circus Flaminius. This w r as declared to be hostile terri- 



1 Judex et arbiter rerum divinarum et humanarum.—Fest. s. v. ordo, p. 185. 

2 From the old substitive fetis ; cf . fari, fas. 

3 Res repetere. 



42 THE KELIGIOST OF THE KOMAKS. 

tory, and the pater patratus hurled here the hostile spear. 
Later the preliminary arrangements were made by ambassadors * 
sent by the senate, while the hostile spear was hurled over 
the pillar in front of the temple of Bellona, for the area upon 
which this temple stood was regarded as a symbolical repre- 
sentation of the enemy's country. 

16. The Art of the Haruspices was another peculiar 
form of Eoman worship. It was of Etruscan origin, and on 
important occasions haruspices were often summoned from 
Etruria. It consisted in interpreting the will of the gods 
from inspection of the entrails of victims offered in sacrifice. It 
was customary here to continue the sacrifice until the desired 
result was obtained, and in a measure, as with the auspices, to 
compel the gods to give favorable signs. The same was the 
case with the so-called prodigies 2 by which the gods unsought 
indicated the approach of evil by some strange incident, as 
when it rained stones or blood, when the lightning struck, 
when the holy lance of Mars trembled. In these cases it was 
believed that the wrath of heaven might be appeased by cer- 
tain forms and ceremonies, which would be announced, either 
on the burial of the stones, the erection of an altar 3 where the 
lightning struck, or on consulting the Sibylline books or even 
the Delphic oracle. In all these cases they made no effort to 
comply with the will of the gods, they changed none of their 
plans or views, but simply sought by external ceremonies 4 to 
avert the anger of the gods. 

17. Peculiar Ceremonies. — The state religion of the 
Komans was connected with a dreary round of ceremonies 
which none but the priests knew. As to the priests, they 
formed no exclusive class, no qualifications of age or expe- 
rience being required. They were generally elected for life, 
and often at the same time held sacred and civil offices. In 
rank the rex sacrificulus took the precedence, then came the 
three flamines. The pontifex maximus occupied the fifth 
place, but in power and authority stood over all the others. 

1 Legati. s Prodigium. 3 Putealia. * Procurare prodigium. 



THE RELIGION OF THE ROMANS. 43 



The priests were subject to some curious regulations which 
existed down to later times, and which, in the case of the 
flamen Dialis, have been accidentally preserved. 1 It was un- 
lawful for him to ride upon a horse, to look upon an army 
equipped for battle, to take an oath, or to wear a ring except 
it were hollow and perforated with holes. A prisoner who 
entered his house was free, and his chains must be hurled from 
the house over the roof. He could have no knot in his whole 
attire; he was forbidden to touch or name raw flesh, a she-goat, 
ivy, or beans; he could not take off his head-dress in the open 
air, nor sleep three days in succession out of his own bed, nor 
could he be out of the city a single night. If his wife, the 
flaminica, died, he was obliged to resign. 

18. The General Character of the Roman Religion. — 
A religion like that of the Eomans, so severe, so anxious in the 
fulfilment of dreary ceremonies, so narrow in its purposes and 
aims, so intimately connected with the machinery of the state, 
must necessarily have exercised a decided influence on the ear- 
nest, practical mind of the Eomans. At the same time it is clear 
that it was exposed to misuse for political purposes, and when 
this once happened, when its narrow limits were once broken 
through, its decline was sure and rapid. In the regal period, 
however, the priests were regarded as the mere servants of the 
king. His control was supreme, not only over the worship of 
the state, but that of the curia, the gens, and even that of the 
family. The signs came to him as the high-priest of the nation 
and not to his servants. He alone could perform certain sacri- 
fices for the state, 2 for which, after the banishment of the kings, 
the rex sacrificulus was appointed. The priests acknowledged 
that they were instituted by him, and that from him they 
learned their sacred rites. Still the other duties of the king, 
as commander of the army and administrator of justice, com- 
pelled him to transfer many of his religious functions to others. 
He, too, was liable to change, while they were permanent and 
handed down to their successors the various rules of their 

1 Aulus Gellius, x. 15. 2 Sacra publica. 



44 



THE RELIGION OF THE KOMANS. 



science. They, too, as sole interpreters of the auspices, pos- 
sessed a virtual veto on every public act. The result was that 
their dignity in the state was constantly on the increase. By 
this transference of religious duties to the priest, it was not 
intended to separate permanently the civil and religious func- 
tions of the king; but that contained the germ for the separa- 
tion. The development of it is really the internal history of 
Eome in the time of the republic. The state incorporated new 
elements, and entered upon a career of progress, while the reli- 
gion, incapable of growth, remained stationary. For the pres- 
ent, however, the priests acknowledged their dependence upon 
the magistrate, and religion remained serviceable to the state, 
and not the state to religion, 




Temple of Vesta —(In its present condition.) 



This temple stood in the forum Boarium. It is sometimes called a temple of Her- 
cules, because Livy (x. 23) speaks of such a temple being in this vicinity. One of the 
original twenty Corinthian columns is gone. The roof is modern, the ancient entabla- 
ture and roof having disappeared. 



the attempts of tarquinius to regain power. 45 

chapter "v. 

The Attempts of Tarquinius to Regain the Royal Power. 

1. The Legendary Narrative. — Tradition relates that 
when Tarquinius 1 and all his house had been banished from 

1 The legendary history of the last king is so interwoven with the literature of 
Rome, that every one ought to be familiar with it. A brief sketch condensed from Livy, 
is therefore annexed : 

Lucius Tarquinius, called Superbus on account of his pride, was a genuine tyrant. 
It is related that Servius Tullius had two daughters ; the one quiet and gentle, the other 
haughty and imperious. In like manner the two sons, Aruns and Lucius, of Tarquinius 
Priscus,* the predecessor of Servius, were of different disposition. These sons Servius 
Tullius married to his own daughters ; but they were ill-mated, for the cruel Tullia was 
married to the gentle Arans, while the wicked Lucius was the husband of the gentle 
Tullia. The wicked ones longed for the society of each other, and it soon came to pass 
that the wicked Lucius murdered his wife and brother, and united himself with the one 
who had a disposition like his own. This wicked pair desired to possess the royal 
power and encroached on the authority of their father-in-law. Lucius entered the 
market-place clothed in the royal robes, attended with armed men, and summoned the 
senate. When Servius heard the reports, and hurried to the senate-house, a quarrel arose 
and his son-in-law hurled him down the steps of the senate-house, and dispatched men 
who overtook him on his way home and slew him in the street. The ambitious Tullia 
hastened to salute her husband as king. As she was driving her carriage home through 
the street where her father's body lay bleeding, she gave orders not to turn the carriage 
out, but to drive over the body of her father. From this action the street was called ever 
after the street of crime ( Vicus Sceleratus). After Tarquin gained the throne he ruled with 
insolence. His will was the sole law. He surrounded himself with a body-guard, 
refused to consult the senate, and banished or punished with heavy fines all who were 
against him or whose wealth provoked his avarice. The poor he compelled to work at 
his buildings beyond what was lawful. He married his daughter to Mamilius of Tuscu- 
lum, and, strengthened by this alliance, he made the forty-seven Latin towns subject to 
himself (see p. 95, note 5). The people of Gabii resisted bravely and he could not 
prevail against them. Then Tarquin pretended to banish his son Sextus ; he fled to 
Gabii as if from his father's wrath, and begged the people with tears to give him refuge 

* The following genealogical table will be convenient for reference : 
Demaratus of Corinth. 



Lucumo, afterwards 
L. Tarquinius Priscus. 



Tarquinia, m. 

S. Tullius. 



Tarquinia, 
m. M. Brutus. 



L. Tarquinius 
Superbus, 



Aruns. 



Aruns. 



Egerius, 

commander of 

Collatia. 



M. Brutus, 

put to death by 

Tarquinius. 



L. Brutus, 
Consul. 



Titus. 



Sextus. Aruns. 



Tarquinius 
Collatinus, 
m. Lucretia. 



46 THE ATTEMPTS OF TARQUINIUS TO REGAIN POWEIfc. 

Eome he did not give up all hope of recovering the throne. 
He had still a strong party of patricians in the city. He 
therefore sent messengers to Eome on the pretence of asking 
for the restoration of his private property, but really to consult 
with his friends in the city how the king might be restored. 



and receive him into their town. The Gabians were deceived, and befriended him and 
made him a commander. The Romans fled when Sextus appeared, because it had been 
so agreed upon between Sextus and his father. At length Sextus had so gained the 
confidence of the people of Gabii that the whole power in the city was entrusted to him. 
Then he sent secretly a messenger to his father to ask what he should do. The king 
happened to be walking in his garden when the envoy came, and instead of giving an 
answer in words he cut off with his stick the heads of all the tallest poppies. When 
the messenger returned and reported what he had seen, Sextus understood his father's 
meaning, and on one pretext or another he found means to put to death the leading men 
of Gabii. Then he delivered the town to his lather. 

In all his schemes Tarquin was successful ; but one day a prodigy happened that 
frightened the tyrant. A serpent crawled out from beneath the altar and devoured the 
entrails of the victim. This alarmed the king and he determined to send his two sons 
and his nephew, Junius Brutus, who had for some time pretended to be half-witted, to 
Delphi to inquire the cause of so fearful a portent. The king's sons brought costly 
presents, but Brutus gave only a simple staff. The others ridiculed him, but they did 
not know that the staff w r as hollowed out and filled with gold. After they had made 
their inquiries they asked who would reign in Rome after their father. " He," replied 
the god, " who shall first kiss his mother." The princes agreed to draw lots which of them 
should first kiss his mother on their return. Brutus, however, better understood the 
meaning of the oracle, and when he had left the temple, fell, as if by chance, and kissed 
the ground ; for the earth he thought was the common mother of all. 

About this time it happened that Tarquin was besieging Ardea, a town of the Rutuli. 
in Latium. The city could not be taken by storm, and the Roman army encamped 
under the walls. One evening, when the sons of Tarquin were supping with their 
cousin, Tarquinius Collarinus of Collatia, a dispute arose as to which of their wives was 
the moi^t virtuous. They agreed to settle it by going and seeing which of the ladies 
deserved the highest praise. They mounted their horses and first rode to Rome, and 
then to Collatia. They found the princesses at a splendid feast, but Lucretia, the wife 
of Collatinus, busy amcng the maidens spinning, though it w r as late at night. The 
prize was conceded to Lucretia. 

The beauty and virtue of Lucretia excited the evil passions of Sextus, and he returned 
again a few clays after to Collatia, where he was kindly received. In the middle of the 
night he rose and entered Lucretia's chamber and surprised her alone. When she re- 
fused to yield herself to him he threatened to murder her and put a murdered slave 
beside her in the bed, and then declare to her husband that he had found them so 
together. Then Lucretia resisted no longer. As soon as Sextus had returned to the 
camp before Ardea, she sent to Rome and to Ardea for her father and husband. These 
hastened to Collatia, accompanied by Junius Brutus and Publins Valerius, and they 
found Lucretia clad in deep mournins:. When she had told her story she drew a dagger 
and plunged it into her heart. Brutus snatched the dagger from the wound and, swore 
to avenge her death. They bore the corpse to the market-place of Collatia and told the 
people w r hat had happened ; messengers were also sent to the army at Ardea. Brutus 
hastened to Rome, and a decree was passed to expel King Tarquinius and all his house* 
from Rome, and never again to suffer a king. When Tarquinius came to Rome he found 
the gates closed and he was compelled to take refuge in Caere, in Etruria. In the place 
of the king, tw 7 o men called consuls w 7 ere chosen yearly to exercise the royal power. 
Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Coratinus were the first consuls (b. c. 
509). For the performance of the sacrifices which the king alone could offer, a priest 
called the King of Sacrifices {rex sacriflculus) was chosen. Nothing else in the laws or 
ordinances was altered, but everything remained as it had been under the king. Rome 
endured the kingly rule for two hundred and forty-five years (b.c. 753-509). In memory 
of the king's banishment an annual festival was celebrated on the 24th of February, 
called the Eegifugium. 



which 



* gens ; it is not quite correct to render gens by house, for this implies relationship, 
ich was not essential in the gens, neither is the term clan nor family synonymous. 



THE ATTEMPTS OF TARQUINIUS TO REGAIN POWER. 47 

The plot was discovered, and the property of the king was 
divided among the people. Among the conspirators were the 
two sons of Brutus, the consul. He would not ask the people 
for mercy for his own sons, but ordered the lictor ] to bind them 
to the stake before his own eyes and put them to death like 
the other traitors. 

2. Tarquinius now endeavored to regain the throne by 
arms. He prevailed upon the people of Tarquinii and Veji to 
espouse his cause. "The Eomans marched out to meet their 
foes. The battle was fought near the wood Arsia, and was 
fierce and bloody. Both parties claimed the victory, but in 
the night the voice of the god Silvanus was heard from the 
woods, saying that the Eomans had conquered, because among 
the Etruscans one man more had been slain than among the 
Eomans. In the battle Brutus had been killed by Aruns, the 
king's son. The Eoman women mourned for him a whole year, 
because he had avenged the death of Lucretia. 

3. The "War with Porsenna. — Tarquinius now applied to 
Lars Porsenna, of Clusium, who ruled over the w T hole of Etruria, 
Porsenna collected a powerful army, marched to Eome, took 
possession of the hill Janiculus, and would have entered the 
city over the wooden bridge 2 if it had not been for one man. 
This was Horatius Codes, who with two comrades kept the 
whole Etruscan army at bay, while the Eomans broke down 
the bridge. Horatius then sprang into the Tiber, armed as 
he was, and sw T am safely to the opposite shore. The Etrus- 
cans now laid siege ,to the city. The people were hard pressed 
with famine. Then Mucius, a noble Eoman, w T ent to the 
Etruscan camp to kill the king. By a mistake he slew the 
treasurer of the king, who was distributing pay to the soldiers. 
He was seized and led to Porsenna, who threatened him with 
death. Mucins, to show that he neither feared pain nor death, 
thrust his right hand into the flames that w^ere burning on the 



1 The lictors were servants of the magistrates. Each consul had twelve. They 
carried the fasces, or rods, bound in a bundle, from the middle of which an axe (securis) 
protruded. 

2 Pons sublicius. 



48 THE ATTEMPTS OF TAKQUINIITS TO KEGAIH POWER. 

altar until it was burnt to ashes. Astonished at the courage 
of the youth, the king forgave him, and allowed him to depart 
in peace. And Mucius, in gratitude, revealed to him that 
three hundred Eoman youths had sworn to take his life, and 
that they would not rest until they had accomplished the deed. 
Porsenna, alarmed for his life, made peace with the Eomans. 
He took no land from them except the seven Vejentine villages, 
which the Romans in former times had conquered. After 
taking hostages, he withdrew his forces from the Janiculus. 

Among the hostages was a noble maiden named Cloelia. 
She escaped from the Etruscan camp, reached the Tiber, and 
swam across the river to Rome. The Romans, although they 
honored her courage, sent her back to Porsenna, who so admired 
the faith of the Romans that he not only released Cloelia but 
as many of the other hostages as she selected. 

4. When Porsenna made peace with the Romans, he 
returned to Clusium. He sent his son, however, with an 
army against the Latin town Aricia. The Greeks of Cumse 
helped the Latins, and the Etruscans were defeated in a great 
battle, so that few escaped. These fled to Rome, where they 
were hospitably received. The fathers gave them a dwelling 
in a part of the city that was called, from them, the Etruscan 
quarter (vicits Tuscus). At this time Attus Clausus 1 migrated 
to Rome with his three thousand clients, and founded the 
great patrician house of the Claudii. 

5. The Battle of Lake Regillus.-f The king made one 
more attempt to regain his throne. This time he applied to 
his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius, of Tusculum. The Latins 
espoused his cause. A great battle was fought near Lake 
Regillus. The Romans were commanded by a dictator, Aulus 
Postumius, who was appointed for six nionths to rule over 
Rome like the king, and be the sole leader of the army, for it 
was feared that the two consuls might not agree. Titus, the 
son of the king, perished on the battle-field. The king him- 
self fled to Cumae, where he soon after died. The tradition 
relates that the battle was long and bloody. The Roman 
army began to give way. The dictator vowed^a temple to Cas- 

1 See p. 55. 



THE ATTEMPTS OF TAEQUIKIUS TO KEGAIK POWER. 49 



tor and Pollux, 1 if they would assist the Eoman army. Then 
two youths rode on white chargers at the dictator's right hand. 
The Romans pressed again on the Latins and overthrew them. 
The same evening the two youths appeared at Eome to an- 
nounce the victory. After they had washed their horses at 
the spring Juturna, in the forum, they disappeared and were 
never seen again. Then the Romans knew that they had seen 
Castor and Pollnx, and they built them a temple where they had 
washed their horses. With the battle of Lake Regillus closed 
the period of mythical Roman history. Although the vein of 
poetical fable often reappears, even to the time of Camillus,* 
still in the main the narrative is reliable and trustworthy. 

6. The Credibility of this Narrative. —It is difficult to 
determine from these legends what the actual course of events 
was. There is no doubt but that Rome was conquered by the 
Etruscans and lost all her territory on the right bank of the 
Tiber. This war, however, can not be regarded as an inter- 
vention of Etruria in favor of the Tarquins ; for the reason 
that notwithstanding the complete success of the Etruscans, 
they made no effort to restore the Roman monarchy. Neither 
was the war with the Latins an effort to restore Tarquin, for 
he had been their oppressor, and his banishment must have 
been welcome to them ; but in this war probably was disguised' 
the fact that the neighboring tribes seized this opportunity to 
throw off the hated yoke of Roman supremacy which Tarquin 
had laid upon them. Another evidence that Rome was hard 
pressed, is that in order to strengthen the unity and power of 
the government, the kingly office was temporarily restored. 
The consuls were superseded, and a dictator with supreme 
power 2 was nominated. The first dictator is said to have 
been Titus Larcius (b. c. 501), and his master of horse, 3 Sp. 
Cassius. 



1 This temple vowed by the dictator is said to have been erected by his son. It was 
in the forum south of the basilica Julia, and only separated from it by the vicus Tuscus. 
It was rebuilt by Tiberius, and the three columns still standing are of his time. Part of 
the foundation is tufa and is of the time of the kings. A little farther on, nearer the 
rostra of Julius Caesar, are the remains of a fountain, which by some has been identified 
as the fountain Juturna. 

3 Tmperium plenum, * Magister equitum. See p. 54, * See p. % . 

3 



50 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EEPUBLIC. 

7. The result may be summed up by saying that Rome was 
reduced almost to her original limits. She became again a 
Latin town. For nearly the next two hundred years she was 
engaged in conquering what had been lost by the revolution. 



chapter "vi. 

The Establishment of the Republic. (509 b. c.) 

1. After the banishment of the king, the power 1 that had 
been delegated to him returned to the fathers. 2 The forms of 
the constitution were strictly observed. Under the direction 
of Brutus, or the pontifex maximus, an interregnum* was 
declared and Spurius Lucretius was nominated interrex. The 
constitution was so amended 3 that instead of a king two magis- 
trates, called consuls, were placed at the head of the state. 
They were not elected as the king had been, in the comitia 
cur tat a, an exclusive patrician assembly, but on account of the 
rising influence of the plebeians, in the comitia centuriata, 
where they too had a vote. 4 The consuls, like the king, were 
to rule the state, 5 administer justice, 6 and lead the army. The 
priestly functions which the king alone could perform were 
separated and transferred to an officer called the king of sac- 
rifices, 7 who was appointed for life. 8 It was not lawful for him 
to hold any political office nor to address the people. He 
must always perform his sacrifices in the comitium in the first 
half of the day, during which all public business was sus- 
pended. The power of the consuls was equal, 9 and neither 



1 Imperium. * I.e., Patres familias gentium patriciarwn. 

3 By the so-called lex curiata a L. Bruto repetita ; a proposal to change the constitu- 
tion must he sanctioned in a concilium populi, i. e., in a meeting composed of the heads 
of patrician families only ; then it must be incorporated in the lex curiata de imperio, 
which was laid before the comitia curiata for ratification. In the time of the republic 
all the heads of patrician families, i. e., patres familias gentium patriciarum, were in the 
senate ; hence this assembly became confused with the patrician part of the senate. 

* The consuls, just as the king had done, laid the lex curiata de imperio before the 
assembly of curies to ratify their election. 

5 Hence called prcetores. 6 Hence called Judices, 7 Bex sacrificulus* 

8 See page 36. 9 Par potestas* 

* See p. 20, n. 4. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 51 

could, take any step without the consent of the other. 1 The 
result was that either consul could veto the acts of the other. 

2. The first consuls were Lucius Junius Brutus and Tar- 
quinius Collatinus. The name of Tarquinius was, however, so 
hateful to the people that he was obliged to resign his office, 
and was banished, with the whole Tarquinian gens, from Eome. 
Publius Valerius 2 was elected in his place. 

3. The Dictatorship of Valerius. — Tradition relates that 
Valerius remained alone in office 3 for some time after the death 
of his colleague. This excited the suspicion of the people that 
he was aiming at the royal power. This fear, however, was 
groundless ; for he only remained in office in order to carry a 
number of laws limiting the power 4 of the consuls. These 
laws Valerius laid before the people assembled in the comitia 
centuriata. This assembly,? it will be remembered, w r as founded 
on the classification of Servius Tullius, which was planned 
purely for military purposes. Under the kings it had had the 
right of deciding on the declaration of war. Now its jurisdic- 
tion was so enlarged that it exercised nearly the same functions 
which had formerly belonged to the comitia curiata. In it 
was vested the right not only of electing all the higher magis- 
trates, but that of legislation, in so far that it could adopt or 
reject all proposals laid before it by the presiding magistrate. 
These measures, however, before they became valid, as w r ell as 
the election of the higher magistrates, required the sanction 
of the curies. For the comitia curiata* alone could confer the 

1 From their equal authority they were called consuls. 

2 Plut. Poplicola. 3 Consul sine collega. * Imperium consulare. 

5 In order to understand the history of this assembly in the time of the republic, it is 
necessary to keep in mind that it was frequently reorganized on the basis of the census ; 
that the number of men in a centuria was not always a hundred, but often thirty, sixty, 
or even one hundred and twenty ; that the number of men between forty and sixty 
was equal in influence to those between seventeen and forty-six, though less numerous ; 
that it was so arranged that in the lower classes the number of men in a century was far 
greater than in the first. The result was that tiie first class, including the knights, had 
a majority of the centuries, although by no means a majority of voters. 

6 It must be remembered that before any measure pertaining to the imperium could 
be laid before the comitia curiata, it must first receive the patrum auctoritas, i. e., the 
sanction of the patres familias gentium patriciarum, and that all similar measures 
adopted by the comitia centuriata, before they became valid, required this sanction. In 
regard to the comitia centuriata it is important to recollect that only those measures 
which limited the consular imperium required the sanction of the comitia curiata. 
According to some authorities, particularly Mommsen, the plebeians voted in this 
assembly. There is evidence to show that they were admitted to the curies for pur- 
poses of worship. The weight of evidence is, however, decidedly against the supposi- 



52 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EEPUBLIC. 

imperium, which empowered the magistrates to command the 
army- and exercise judicial functions. 1 The patricians then, 
beside their great influence in the comitia centuriata, still 
retained in the comitia curiata, in which they alone were enti- 
tled to vote, a check on all legislation and the election of all 
the higher magistrates. 

4. The Valerian Laws. — Valerius first renewed the cen- 
sus, and rearranged the classification in the interest of the 
rich, in the manner already described. In order to conciliate 
the poor he remitted the poll-tax 2 imposed by Tarquinius 
Superbus, and restored the tribatum B of Servius Tullius. At 
the same time he lowered the port dues, 4 made the salt-works 
at the mouth of the Tiber a state monopoly, and bought up 
corn for the state, that this necessity might be supplied to the 
poor at a reasonable price. Valerius carried another measure 
also highly acceptable to the plebeians. It will be remem- 
bered that Tarquinius had failed to keep the senate up to its 
full number. To these vacancies a number of noble plebeians 
of equestrian rank* were admitted, and to distinguish them 
from the patrician senators, they were called conscripti? They 
ranked only as equites, and had no right to the insignia of 
senatorial dignity — the purple-bordered robe, the red shoe, 
and the golden ring. 

1. The first laiv 6 carried by Valerius prescribed that every 
Eoman citizen against whom sentence of capital or corporal 
punishment had been pronounced should have the right of 
appealing 7 to the people in the comitia centuriata. This 

tion that they were entitled to vote when the lex curiata was to be ratified. ( Of. Cic. ad 
AtL, i., 18, 4.) If the plebeians could vote in the comitia curiata, there would be no 
propriety in Cicero's writing that the adoption of Clodius was to be voted on in the 
campus Martins, where the whole people (universus pojndus) could vote. 

1 Beside conferring the imperium, the comitia curiata (calata) exercised jurisdiction 
over the internal affairs of the curies, inaugurated certain priests, and before it wills 
were made and the ceremony of arroaatio, by which a man adopted any person as his 
son who was sui juris, that is, who had been freed from the {patria) potestas of his father. 

2 Aes capitarium. 

m 3 This was at first a land : tax. It was raised in the tribes by officers called curatores 
tribuum, later tribuni cerarii. 

4 Portoria. 

5 The senate was henceforth addressed as patres (et) conscripti. There is said to have 
been as many as 164 added, a clear majority of the whole number. These were by no 
means all plebeians. 

6 Ne quis magistratus civem Eomanum adversus provocationem necaret neve verberaret, 

7 Jus provocdtionis. * See p. 210, n, 6. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KEPUBLIC. 53 

was a direct limitation of the power of the consul ; it was 
the Habeas Ckrpus Act of the Romans. As an outward sign 
of the limitation of the official power of the magistrate, Vale- 
rius caused the fasces to be borne in the city without the 
axes, and to be lowered before the people. Outside of the 
city the consular authority was still supreme, and the axes 
were bound up with the fasces. 1 

2. Hie second latv 2 placed a limit to the fines 3 which the 
magistrate could impose. 

3. The third law was also a limitation of the power of 
the consul, in that it prescribed that two qucestors* should be 
appointed annually to manage the finances of the state. The 
management of the finances was a question of less importance 
at this time in Rome, where no public officer received a salary, 
and where military service was exacted from every citizen. 
The consuls, as has already been said, were elected for one 
year, yet they did not abdicate until their successors were 
appointed, for they must nominate and preside at the election 
of the latter. 

4. The fourth lata 6 of Valerius compelled the presiding 
magistrates to nominate and receive votes for all suitable 
candidates proposed by the people. 6 

5. The fifth late 7 threatened any one with outlawry who 
should attempt to assume the highest magistracy without the 
consent of the people. 

5. These are the laws attributed to Valerius, henceforth 
called Poplicola, " the people's friend." • It is evident that they 
helped to settle the new order of things, and by limiting the 
power of the magistrate made the aristocratic rule of the 
patricians less intolerable to the plebeians. They offered to 
the plebeians, both in the senate, and comitia centuriata, a 

1 This led to the distinction between imperium domi and imperium militice. 

2 At least it is generally ascribed to Valerius. 

3 Multce dictio : the limit was five cattle and two sheep. 

4 The qucestores parricidii were magistrates under the king. By the law of Valerius 
they became qucestores parricidii and cerarii. 

5 Lex Valeria de candidatis. 

6 The patricians could render the election invalid by refusing to empower (patrum 
auctoritas) the candidate to lay the lex curiata de imperio before the comitia curiata. 

7 L&x de sacrando cum bonis capite ejus, qui regni occupandi consilia iniczei. 



54 THE KICH AND POOR. — THE TRIBUTES OF THE PEOPLE. 

share in the government, and thereby helped to strengthen the 
unity of the state. 

6. The Dictatorship. — The repeated re-election of Vale- 
rius, and the popular tendency of his laws, created a reaction 
and led to the establishment of the dictatorship. This was a 
temporary restoration of the full power which the kings had 
possessed. By a decree 1 of the senate one of the consuls was 
empowered to nominate a dictator for a period not exceeding- 
six months. All the other magistrates remained in office, and 
continued to discharge their duties, but they were all subject 
to the dictator. The guarantees by which Valerius had sought 
to protect the liberties of the peoj)le were all in abeyance. The 
dictator appointed as second in command a magister equitwn, 
or master of the horse. The first dictator was T. Larcius. 2 y 

7. Valerius, after he had secured the adoption of these laws, 
convened the comitia for the election of a consul. 3 The people 
chose Spurius Lucretius, but on his death, a few days after, 
Marcus Horatius was elected in his place. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Rich and Poor. — The Tribunes of the People. 

1. Thus far both parties had co-operated in the restoration 
of order. The chief motive, however, that had influenced the 
patricians to consent to the amendments of the constitution 
and to other popular measures, was the fear that the plebeians 
might unite with the party of the king and thus bring about a 
restoration of the monarchy. It was" at this time that the con- 
servative aristocratic party in Kome was strengthened by the 

1 Lex de dictatore creando. 

2 Or M\ Valerius. It is doubtful whether the dictatorship originated as described in 
the text, or in the dissensions of the two orders — i. e., that the patricians might thwart 
the measures of the people or of a popular consul— or arose from a necessity of unity of 
command in military affairs ; see also p, 48, 

3 Consul suffectw, 



THE KICH AKD POOK. — THE TBIBUKES OF THE PEOPLE. 00 

Claudian gens, which migrated to Home with three thousand 
clients. On account of this increase of the population the 
Eoman territory was divided at the next census (b. c. 498) into 
twenty tribes/ of which four were the ancient wards formed 
by the Servian constitution. With the death of Tarquinius 2 
vanished all fear of the restoration of the monarchy, and at the 
same time all regard for the welfare of the plebeians. 

2. The Condition of the Plebeians. — In order to under- 
stand the condition of the plebeians, it is necessary to remember 
that the management of the government was almost exclusively 
in the hands of the patricians. They alone could be dictator, 
consul, quaestor, or priest. The plebeians, it is true, had a vote 
in the comitia centuriata, where they even formed a majority. 
This assembly, however, had been remodelled in the interest 
of the rich, so that here their influence was also predominant. 
Further, no measure could be laid before this assembly until 
it had first received the sanction of the patricians. The comitia 
then could only decide with yes or no on the question laid 
before them. All emendation, discussion, and debate were 
excluded. The measures, after their adoption by the people, 
must come once more before the patricians for confirmation 
in the comitia ciiriata. In the popular assembly, then, the 
plebeians could make no successful resistance to the well- 
organized rule of the patricians. Marriage between the two 
orders 'was unlawful. Neither wealth nor service to the state 
opened to the plebeian the prospect of rising above his order 
and sharing in the government. 

3. The Law of Debtor and Creditor. — Another circum- 
stance aggravated his hardships. The wars that had followed 
the banishment of the king had pressed hard upon the ple- 
beians. They had to render military service without pay, and 
to provide their own arms. Eome had to surrender her terri- 
tory beyond the Tiber 3 to Porsenna. The ravages of war 
ruined the crops. The enemy destroyed the farm buildings 
and drove away the cattle. When the poor plebeian returned, 

1 The twenty-first tribe was added at the next census, five years after (b, c, 493), 
? p. 48. 3 Qeptem pagi, 



56 THE RICH AND POOR. — THE TRIBUNES OF THE PEOPLE. 



either his farm had been left unfilled or his crops were de- 
stroyed, and he was without means of subsistence or of pur- 
chasing seed for the next year. He was then obliged to incur 
debts. If he failed in paying the large interest— ten or twelve 
per cent — he was seized by the creditor and imprisoned, or 
sold as a slave and his family left to starve. 1 

These wars, while they were the ruin of the plebeians, 
benefited the patricians ; for they alone could 2 occupy the land 
acquired by conquest. Under the kings the plebeians had 
been admitted to a share in its use ; but now the patricians 
divided the land among themselves and the wealthy plebeian 
families represented in the senate, and paid to the state only a 
nominal rent for its use; and as it was exempted from taxation 
an unfair portion of the taxes 3 fell upon the poor, while their 
means for bearing the burden was narrowed. This led to a 
distinction between rich and poor, by no means identical with 
that between patricians and plebeians. 

4. The Right of Appeal. — The Valerian law had guar- 
anteed to the plebeians the right of appeal to the popular 
assembly against the hard sentence of the patrician consul. 
This right, however, the senate could at any moment render 
void by authorizing one of the consuls to nominate a dictator, 

1 When a plebeian at Rome found himself involved in a debt which he could not pay, 
his best resource was to sell himself to his creditor, on the condition that unless the 
debt were previously discharged, the creditor, at the expiration of a stated term, should 
enter into possession of his purchase. This was called, in the language of the Roman 
law, the entering into a nexum, and the person who had thus conditionally sold himself 
was said to be nexus. When the day came, the creditor claimed possession, and the 
magistrate awarded it ; and the debtor thus given over to his purchaser, addictus, passed, 
with all that belonged to him, into his power ; and as the sons were considered their 
father's property, they also, unless previously emancipated, were included in the sale, 
and went into slavery with their father. Or if a man, resolved not by his own act to 
sacrifice his own and his children's liberty, refused thus to sell himself, or, in the Roman 
language, to enter into a nexum, and determined to abide in his own person the conse- 
quences of his own debt, then he risked a fate still more fearful. If, within thirty days 
after the justice of the claim had been allowed, he was unable to discharge it, his creditor 
might arrest him and bring him before the court ; and if no one then offered to be his 
security, he was given over to his creditor, and kept by him in private custody, bound with 
a chain of fifteen pounds weight, and fed with a pound of corn daily. If he still could not, 
or would not, come to any terms with his creditor, he was thus confined during sixty days, 
and during this period was brought before the court in the comitium on three successive 
market-days, and the amount of his debt declared, in order to see if any person would 
yet come forward in his behalf. On the third market-day, if no friend appeared, he was 
either to be put to death or sold as a slave into a foreign land beyond the Tiber.— Arnold's 
Hist. Rome, p. 52 ; see also Livy ii. 23. 

2 Ager pvblicvs. 

3 Tributum. This was a tax assessed by tribes only on landed property. The wealth 
of the patricians consisted mostly in their occupation of the public land, which was 
exempt from this tax. The burden then fell more heavily upon the plebeian, 



THE RICH AND POOR. — THE TRIBUNES OF THE PEOPLE. 57 

whose power was not limited by the Valerian laws, but was 
supreme both in and out of the city. The only way for the 
plebeians to gain a share in the management of the govern- 
ment was to organize themselves as a separate political body. 

5. The First Secession. — The first crisis, however, came 
not from those who resented their political disabilities, but 
from the poor. They saw in the frequent wars the real cause 
of their poverty. When the levy of the state was called out 
for a dangerous war against the Volscians, the plebeians refused 
to serve. Then the consul Servilius, who was friendly to the 
people, suspended the severe law of debtor and creditor, and 
liberated the imprisoned debtors on condition that they should 
take their place in the ranks and help secure the victory. The 
enemy was driven back, and the army returned victorious to 
Kome. But the distress began again, for the law was enforced 
by his colleague, Appius Claudius, in its former rigor (b.c. 495). 
The next year the enemy appeared again, and it was not until 
the -senate appointed M\ Valerius dictator that the farmers 
yielded and took their place again in the ranks. On his return 
as victor, the dictator tried to carry his measures for reform. 
When these were rejected, the army, which stood in array be- 
fore the gates of the city, abandoned its general, and headed 
by the military tribunes, who were at least in part plebeians, 
marched away to the district between the Tiber and Anio, 
and there determined to build a new city 1 (b.c. 494). 

The patricians were compelled to yield. They saw plainly 
that they and their clients could not carry on the government 
alone. They sent Valerius to make terms with the leaders. He 
was accompanied by ten senators, at whose head was Agrippa 
Menenius, who is said to have overcome their obstinacy by 
relating the fable of the belly and members. Henceforth 
Valerius was called Maximus, and the mount beyond the Anio 
the Sacred Mount, 2 and the law the lex sacrata? 



1 This was called the secessio plebis in sacrvm montem, or secessio Crustumerina. 
The statement on the authority of Piso (Liv. ii. 32), that the Aventine was occupied, 
relates to a later secession. 

2 It was 3 Roman miles, or 2% English miles, distant from Rome, 
s That is the covenant or terms upon which peace was made. 



58 THE EICH AKD POOR. — THE TRIBUTES OF THE PEOPLE. 



6. The Tribunes of the People. — The conditions of their 
return were, (1) the cancelling of old debts, and (2) the election 
of two plebeian tribunes. The tribunes of the people took their 
names and were elected, not from the military tribunes, but 
from the tribunes 1 who managed the local affairs of the tribes. 
Their office was purely civil, and was designed to protect the • 
plebeians from the severity of the consular power. They had'* 
no military force at their disposal, but their authority was 
strengthened by placing the tribunes themselves under the 
special protection of the gods. They were declared to be 
sacrosancti, that is, consecrated and inviolable, and whoever 
injured one, or hindered him in the exercise of his authority, 
was threatened with the curse of the gods, 2 and might be killed 
by any one without fear of punishment. The recognition of 
these laws, wrung from the patricians, was the first plebiscitum? 
This was the beginning of a new form of legislation, which led 
in the course of years to absolute democracy. 

7. The Original Power of the Tribunes. — The preroga- 
tives of the tribunes were at first simply to protect any plebeian 
who appealed to them for protection against the consular 
authority. 4 In order that every injured person might place 
himself under the protection of the tribunes, it was enacted 
that they should not go more than a mile from the city, 5 and 



1 Curatores tribuv.m, or tribuni cerarii, as they were called. Each tribe had five, 
making in all one hundred and five. Plebeians were eligible to this office, and it was 
from the plebeian members that the tribunes were elected. Their number was at first 
two, but was immediately increased, by cooptatio {i. e. the two who had already been 
chosen selected their colleagues), to five, to correspond to the five classes. According 
to Mommsen their number was increased to five by the Publilian law of Volero (471 b. a); 
see page 63. 

2 Consecratio capitis et bonomm. 

3 A plebiscitum was any measure adopted by the plebeians. In this case the tribunes 
were elected and the lex sacrata carried in a meeting of plebeians held by tribes {tribu- 
tim), i.e., in a concilium tributum. Henceforth the tribunes were elected in the comitia 
centuriata. According to Mommsen they were elected in a concilium curiatvm ; but this 
is connected with another view of Mommsen, viz. : that the plebeians were admitted to 
the curies. It is in any case mere supposition ; the ancients give no satisfactory informa- 
tion on the subject ; see note 6, page 64. 

* Jus inter •cedendi, or as it was at first called, jus auxilii. In order to understand the 
position of the tribunes, it is necessary to remember that their legal power consisted 
simply in suspending an act, not in annulling it, and that the coercion exercised over the 
consul was simply a usurped power. Eigenbrodt has proved that their power {tribunicia 
potestas) was not, as Mommsen supposes, superior to that of the consul {major potestas), 
nor their veto like that of the dictator (vi majoris potestatis), but sprung simply from 
their inviolability, i. e., from their sacrosancta potestas. 

5 That is, that they should not go outside of the pomerium. for so far the right of ap- 
peal and the power of the tribune extended. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES. 59 

that the doors of their houses should be open night and day, 
that any one might find refuge with them. From the right 
of intercession was developed the power by which the tribune 
could place his veto upon the execution of any law or measure 
of the consul injurious to the interests of the people, and for 
a time, at least, prevent its execution. This was a direct limita- 
tion of the consular power. 1 

8. The Icilian Law. — The tribunes also had the right of 
summoning 2 the plebeians 3 from time to time to consult them 
on their affairs. In these meetings the tribunes addressed the 
people and carried resolutions. These, however, when they 
pertained to the affairs of the state, were mere petitions, or had 
but little more effect than the resolutions of our modern public 
meetings. Their validity, however, was asserted by the plebeians 
from the first, and in this way the Icilian resolution, 4 which 
punished with death any one interrupting a tribune while ad- 
dressing the people, was adopted and became a law (493 b. a). 

Two plebeian sediles were elected at the same time with 
the tribunes, 5 whom they were to attend and assist. 6 



chapter "viii. 

Development of the Power of the Tribunes. 
Agrarian Agitations. 

1. The powers of the tribunes developed rapidly. They 
soon usurped the right to summon any patrician before their 
assembly, and punish him with fines or even death. The first 
instance of the kind is said to have been in the case of Corio- 
lanus 7 (b.c. 491). 



1 I. e., imperium domi. 2 Concilia ; 

3 Jus cum plebe agendi. * Plebiscitum Icilium. 

5 At the same time probably ten men for lawsuits (judices decemviri) were elected, 
whose duty^ was to investigate cases which came under the jurisdiction of the tribunes. 

6 The tribunes entered each year upon their office the 10th of December, 
'Plut.Cor, l 



60 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES. 

2. The Story of Coriolanus. — The legend runs that there 
was a famine at Kome. The distress was great among the poor. 
Corn was bought in Etruria and distributed among them. This 
was not sufficient, and the suffering continued, till Gelon, king 
of Syracuse, sent ships of corn as presents to the Eoman people. 
Then Gajus Marcius Coriolanus, a brave patrician who had 
fought at Lake Eegillus and won the civic crown, proposed 
that none be yielded to the plebeians until they consented to 
give up their tribunes. Thereupon the tribunes impeached him 
before the assembly of tribes x of having broken the peace be- 
tween the two orders, and of having violated the sacred laws. 
The patricians could not protect him, and he was compelled to 
flee from Eome. 2 He betook himself to Antium, the capital of 
the Volscians, and persuaded them to make war on Eome. 
Commanded by their king and Coriolanus, they penetrated 
within five miles of the city and laid waste the land of the 
plebeians for miles around. The Eomans sued for peace. Cori- 
olanus demanded the restoration of all the towns that had 
been taken from the Volscians. These terms seemed hard, and 
the ambassadors came again to ask for more favorable con- 
ditions. Coriolanus would not even see them. But when a 
procession of Eoman matrons came, and Coriolanus recognized 
his mother Veturia, his wife Volumnia, and his little children, 
he was induced to yield. He withdrew his army, and gave 
back the conquered towns. Some say that he was put to 
death by the Volscians, others that he spent his life in exile. 

3. The Position of the Tribunes. — The prerogatives of 
the tribunes were now secure. The discord between the two 
parties, rich and poor, or what at this time was nearly the same, 
between the patricians and plebeians, was legally organized. 
The struggle of the plebeians henceforth was for a further limi- 
tation of the consular power, and for a legal position in the state. 

4. The Management of the Public Land. — The meas- 
ures thus far adopted afforded only temporary relief for the 



1 That is, the assembly of plebeians by tribes, concilium tributum plebis. 

2 The judicial powers of the tribunes in capital offences was regulated and denned by 
the lex Aterna Tarpeja (b. c. 454), 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES. 61 

poor. Their condition could never be permanently bettered 
until the injustice which lay at the root of the civil dissensions 
was removed. This was the management of the public land. 1 
This land .had been acquired by conquest, and so long as the 
patricians alone formed the people, 2 they jealously excluded 
the plebeians from all share in it. But when the plebeians 
were admitted to military service, and when new lands were 
acquired, in part at least, by their blood and toil, they too 
claimed a share in its use. This the patricians denied, and 
claimed and exercised, for the most part, the exclusive right 
of inclosing and occupying it. For its use they were either to 
pay 3 a small tax, 4 or a tenth of the income 5 of the soil to the 
state. After the banishment of the king, in order to con- 
ciliate the favor of the plebeians, the patricians allowed them 
also, on giving a tenth of the income, 6 to drive their cattle 
upon the common pasture. 7 When in course of time larger 
tracts were conquered, portions were also parceled out to the 
plebeians, in a manner, however, by no means satisfactory to 
them. Small farms 8 were given to them in the newly acquired 
territory, on condition that they should settle there and de- 
fend it. 

5. Its Occupation. — But as population increased and 
agriculture was developed, the occupation of the land fell 
more and more into the hands of the rich. For when the 
senate authorized the consul to offer new tracts of land for 
occupation 9 and possession, 10 only the rich who had herds of 
cattle and households of slaves, could make its cultivation 
profitable. Hence the public pastures were brought more and 
more into cultivation, and the grazing land for the use of the 
poor became smaller. The poor plebeian could not even obtain 
work on this land as a day-laborer, for the patricians pre- 
ferred slaves, because they were cheaper, and the slaves were 
not liable, like the plebeians, to military service. By admitting 
the rich plebeians to a share in the public lands, the senate 



L Ager publicus. 2 Populus. 3 This was not strictly enforced. 

1 Scriptura. 5 Vectigal. 6 Vectigal. 

r Pastua. 8 Bina jugera. ° Occupatio. " 10 Fossesslo, 



62 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES. 

identified their interest with its own, and deprived the poor 
plebeians of the aid of those who ought to have been their pro- 
tectors. The patricians then claimed the exclusive right of oc- 
cupying the public lands. This claim the plebeians resisted. 

6. The Agrarian Law of Cassias (b. c. 488).— To rec- 
tify this injustice Spurius Cassius, 1 a noble patrician, proposed 
to the comitia centuriata the first Agrarian Laiv. He was the 
most renowned of his order, and had formed a treaty with the 
Latins in his second consulship (b. c. 493), and in his third with 
the Hernicans. He now came forward as the protector of the 
plebeians, and proposed that the newly-acquired public land 
should not be offered for occupation, but be divided among the 
plebeians and Latins, 2 and if this was not sufficient a part of 
the public land already occupied should be taken. Against 
this proposal the patricians rose as one man, and the rich plebe- 
ians took part with them ; first, because the consul had laid 
a matter relating to the civil administration, which properly 
belonged to the senate, before the people ; and secondly, be- 
cause the bill threatened to deprive those already in possession 
of the public land of their rights. The plebeians themselves 
were dissatisfied, because the Latins were to have a share in the 
land. The patricians allowed the law to pass, but prevented its 
execution. Sp. Cassius was accused the next year, at their insti- 
gation, of aiming at kingly power, and condemned to death. 

7. The Three Parties. — Thus far the struggle had been 
chiefly between the rich and poor. Still all the rich plebeians 
had not taken sides with the patricians, and there were many 
rich patricians who favored the poor. It was these rich patri- 
cians and plebeians who formed the third party, a party which 
had the welfare of the state in view and counseled conciliation 
and unity. 

1 By a strange compensation of fortune, the first Roman whose greatness is really 
historical, is the man whose deeds no poet sang, and whose memory the early annalists, 
repeating the language of the party who destroyed him, have branded with the charge of 
treason and attempted tyranny. Amid the silence and the calumnies of his enemies, he 
is known as the author of three works to which Rome owed all her future greatness : he 
concluded the league with the Latins in his second consulship ; in his third he concluded 
the league with the Hernicans, and procured, although with the price of his own life, the 
enactment of the first agrarian law.— Arnold's History, p. 57, 

a According to the treaty. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OF THE TRIBUNES. 63 



8. The Fabii and Vejentines (b. c. 485-477).— The 
death of Cassius, however, so strengthened the patricians that 
the Fabian gens, contrary to the law of Valerius, usurped the 
consulship for nearly ten years. Oppression fell heavier than 
ever on the poor plebeian. When he refused to serve in the 
army the consul made the levy outside of the pomerium, where 
the intercession of the tribune was of no avail. The patricians 
had also learned to make use of the veto of some tribune to 
neutralize the acts of his colleagues. It seemed as if the 
Fabian gens, as the senate recommended from year to year 
one of its number for the consulship, would gain supreme 
control of the state. In order to win the favor of the ple- 
beians, Kaeso Fabius, the same who had impeached Cassius, 
even proposed to carry into execution the agrarian law. The 
government took the alarm, and the Fabian house, of three 
hundred and six males of full age and four thousand clients, 
were compelled to leave Rome. They marched to the river 
Cremera near Veji, and established a fortified camp. For two 
years they sustained the whole of the Vejentine war, but at 
length were enticed into an ambuscade. All were slain. One 
boy only, who had remained at Eome, preserved the name and 
race of the Fabii (b. c. 477). 

9. The Publilian Law of Volero (b. c. 471).— After the 
banishment of the Fabii, the contest for the execution of the 
agrarian law was waged more fiercely. The tribune Genucius 
accused the consuls for the year b. c. 473 before the assembly 
of tribes, because they had not made the assignments of land. 
On the- night before the trial, the tribune was murdered in his 
own house. This so terrified his colleagues that they did not 
even dare to make use of their power of intercession. Then 
the plebeians became convinced that they must have men for 
tribunes who were politically independent, 1 and ready, under 
any circumstance, to lend their aid to the poor. 

Their tribune Volero Publilius proposed to transfer the 



1 The patricians exerted indirectly an influence on the election of the tribunes by- 
seeing that suitable men were elected for curatores tribuum, from which the tribunes of 
the people were selected. The curatores tribuum were elected by members of the tribes ; 
patricians, plebeians, and clients voting on a footing of equality. 



64 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POWER OE THE TRIBUNES. 

election of tribunes to the plebeians themselves. The patri- 
cians, under the lead of Appius Claudius, resisted ; they 
pressed into the assembly of the plebeians, 1 and delayed the 
adoption of the measure. Volero rallied the people ; he was 
re-elected. Notwithstanding the disturbance of the patri- 
cians, he carried the measure, and it became a law. 2 Hence- 
forth the tribunes were elected in the special plebeian as- 
sembly. 3 

10. This was a great gain for the plebeians. To their rights 
of meeting together and discussing their own affairs and pass- 
ing resolutions free from interruption, secured by the Icilian 
plebiscitum, was now added that of electing their own officers 
free and independent of patrician influence. 

1 The patricians, like the plebeians, were included in the local tribes, and both voted 
together in electing the officers of the tribe and managing its local affairs. When an 
assembly from all the tribes was summoned by the tribune, it was natural that the patri- 
cians should lay claim to admittance also. They may have pressed into the assembly to 
enforce this right. A few years afterwards (b. c. 447) the eomitia tributa was organized, 
in which both patrician and plebeian voted on a footing of equality. 

- This law was a plebiscitum, but the patricians were compelled to recognize its validity. 
Rome had now the following public assemblies : the eomitia centuriata, presided over by 
the consul, in which both patricians and plebeians voted according to a classification 
that gave the greatest influence to wealth and age ; the special assembly of plebeians by 
tribes {concilium tributum plebis), presided over by a tribune, where all voted on a foot- 
ing of equality ; the eomitia curiata, composed only of patricians, in which the people 
voted in curice — each curia had one vote, determined by the majority of votes in that 
curia ; when the lex curiata de imperio came before the assembly, a consul, praetor, or 
dictator presided ; when cases of adoption or religious matters, the poniifex maximus 
presided ; the concilium euriatum, composed of the patres familias gentium, patriciarum, 
formerly conferred the patrum auctoritas, but since all the patrician gentes were repre- 
sented in the senate, this was said to have been conferred by the patrician part of the 
senate ; the eomitia tributa, generally presided over by the praetor, in which the whole 
body of citizens, patricians, plebeians and clients, voted on a footing of equality, was 
not organized till a later period (b. c. 447). It was employed to enact some laws, elect 
the inferior magistrates, and decide the less important judicial processes. The word lex, 
by no means synonymous with our word " law," was applicable to whatever the people 
commanded {quod populus jubet atque constituit), which did not consist in an election or 
judicial decision. The word was particularly applicable to a rogatio (a bilD carried (lata 
est) in a eomitia, an assembly of the whole people. A scitum was a resolution carried in 
a concilium plebis, and only became a law after it had been recognized by the people. 

3 Concilium tributum plebis ; this law Mommsen (vol. i., p. 307) calls one of the most 
momentous in its consequences with which Roman history has to deal ; for two of the 
most important arrangements — the introduction of the plebeian assembly of tribes (p. 58, 
note 3) and the placing of the plebiscitum on a level, although conditionally, with the 
formal law sanctioned by the whole community — are to be referred, the former cer- 
tainly, the latter probably, to the proposal of Volero Publilius, the tribune of the people, 
in b. c. 471. The plebs had hitherto adopted its resolutions by curies ; here the voting had 
been by mere numbers, without distinction of estate or freehold property, and the clients 
of the great patrician families had voted together in the assembly. This had given the 
nobility an opportunity of exercising influence on that assembly, and especially of man- 
aging the election of tribunes according to their views. According to Mommsen, to the 
twenty districts into which the Roman territory had already been divided, namely the 
four Servian wards and the sixteen new wards added in b. c. 495 (see p. 55 and note 1), 
was now added in consequence of the Publilian law and with a view to bring about the 
inequality which was desirable for voting purposes in the total divisions, the twenty-first 
tribe, the Crustuminian, which derived its name from the place where the plebs had con- 
stituted itself as such and had established the tribunate (see p. 57 and n. 1). 



THE DECEMVIBS AHD LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 65 



chapter ix. 
The Decemvirs and the Laws of the Twelve Tables. 

1. Efforts to obtain Equal Laws. — The contest now 
assumed a new form. The aim of the plebeians was unmistaka- 
ble, They were struggling to limit the power of the consul, 
and to secure for themselves a separate, clearly defined, and 
legal position in the state. The first step was taken by the 
tribune G. Terentilius Arsa, who, in the year b. c. 462, laid a 
proposal 1 before the assembly of tribes that five men be ap- 
pointed to draw up a code of laws by which the consuls should 
be bound in the exercise of their judicial functions. It will 
be remembered 2 that the patricians had exclusive knowledge 
of the law and the forms of procedure in the civil courts. This 
they guarded as a sacred mystery from the plebeians. By care- 
fully preventing the laws from being written down and pub- 
lished, they kept the plebeians in a state of dependence from 
which even the tribunes could not deliver them. With the 
advance in civilization, cases arose to which the common law 
did not apply. 3 The decision of these cases depended wholly 
on the will of the magistrate. .Under these circumstances the 
only course for the plebeians was to have the laws revised, 
written down and published. The proposal of Terentilius was 
adopted at once by the plebeians, but the patricians were de- 
termined not to yield and consequently refused to ratify it. 4 

2. Concessions. — The contest over the rogation* lasted for 
ten years. The old party violence broke out anew. 5 Foreign 

1 Vt qmnqueviri creentur legibus de imperio consulari scribendis. 

2 See page 40. 3 Jus incertum. 

4 As this proposal limited the consular imperium, it required the sanction of the patri- 
cians before it could become a law. * See page 64, n. 2. 

5 The younger patricians organized clubs for the perpetration of every kind of vio- 
lence. Among these Kaeso Quinctius, the son of the celebrated Cincinnatus, brought 
upon himself an impeachment by the tribune Aulus Virginins (b. c. 461). Kaeso fled to 
Etruria before the day of hi* trial. A conspiracy was formed for effecting his return. 
Jn the following year a band of exiles, led by the Sabine Appius Herdonius, surprised 
the capital by night, and attempted to assassinate the tribunes and restore the constitu- 



66 THE DECEMVIKS AND LAWS OF THE TWELTE TABLES. 

enemies seized this opportunity to press hard on Kome. The 
Volscians penetrated into the heart of Latium, and the 
iEquians even defeated a Eoman army on Mount Algidus. The 
patricians would not yield. In b. c. 457 they conceded, how- 
ever, that the number of tribunes should be increased from 
five to ten, two from each of the five classes. The result of 
this was that a greater number of plebeians came within reach 
of the tribune's protection. 1 In B.C. 454 the tribune Icilius 
carried a law 2 that the public land on the Aventine should be 

tion as it was before the secession to the Sacred Mount. The cry resounded through the 
city, " To arms ! the enemy are in the city. 11 Arms were given out ; the young men were 
enrolled. Assistance came from Tuscnlum. The consul led the allied forces up the 
Capitoline hill. The citadel was recovered, but the consul was slain. The patricians 
elected in his place Quinctius Cincinnatus, the father of Kaeso. The plebeians were dis- 
mayed. Cincinnatus, however, was not more severe in restraining the plebeians than in 
reproving the senate. A truce was concluded with the vEquians. The next year (b. c. 458) 
theiEquians broke the truce, invaded the country of Tuscnlum, and pitched their camp on 
Mount Algidus, the eastern spur of the Alban hills. The Roman consul was defeated, and 
his camp besieged in one of the defiles of the mountain. Five knights escaped and 
brought the news to Rome. Terror prevailed in the city, for the other consul with his 
army was fighting with the Sabines. The senate decided to appoint Cincinnatus dictator. 
He was living on his little farm on the right bank of the Tiber, and, like the noble 
Romans of the good old time, was cultivating it with his own hands. When the ambas- 
sadors came, Cincinnatus quitted his plough, and put on his toga that he might receive 
the message of the senate in a becoming manner. When he heard the errand he accepted 
the office, and appointed Tarquinius Flaccus, a noble patrician, but frugal like himself, as 
his master of horse. He ordered all courts of justice to be closed, all business suspended, 
and summoned every man of military age to meet him on the Campus Martius before 
sunset, each bringing twelve stakes and rations for five days. Before midnight the dic- 
tator had reached Mount Algidus and reconnoitred the enemy's position. He ordered his 
soldiers to throw down their baggage and surround the camp of the iEquians with a 
ditch and drive in the stakes. With a shout the Romans began their work and an- 
nounced their presence to the iEquians and their countrymen at the same time. The consul 
and his army recognized the war-cry, seized their arms, and renewed the battle. The 
^Equians, hemmed in between two armies, surrendered and prayed for mercy. Cincin- 
natus spared their lives, but made them all pass under the yoke. (The yoke was formed 
with two spears placed upright on the ground, and a third placed across the upper ends 
of them.) Cincinnatus divided the spoils with his army and returned in triumph to Rome. 
On the sixteenth day he laid down his office and retired to his farm. — Livy, iii. 15 if. In 
such a warfare as that of the Romans with the iEquians and Volscians, theie was always 
sufficient alternations of success to furnish the annalists on either side with matter of 
triumph ; and by exaggerating every victory, and omitting or slightly noticing every 
defeat, they formed a picture such as national vanity most delights in. But we neither 
care, nor need we desire, to correct and supply the omissions of the details of the Roman 
historians : it is enough to say that at the close of the third century of Rome, the war- 
fare which the Romans had to maintain against the Opican nations was generally 
defensive ; and that the iEquians and Volscians had advanced from the line of the 
Aoennines, and established themselves on the Alban hills in the heart of Latium ; that 
of the thirty Latin states which had formed the league with Rome (b. c. 493), thirteen 
were either now destroyed or were in possession of the Opicans ; that on the Alban 
hills themselves Tuscnlum alone remained independent ; and that there was no other 
friendly city to obstruct the irruptions of the enemy into the territory of Rome. Accord- 
ingly that territory was plundered year after year, and whatever defeats the plunder- 
ers may at times have sustained, yet they were never deterred from renewing a contest 
which they found in the main profitable and glorious. So greatly had the power and 
dominion of Rome fallen since the overthrow of the monarchy. — Arnold, vol. i. p. 78 f. 

1 This was the third plebiscitum recognized by the patricians. 

2 Lex lcilia de Aventino publicando : this plebiscitum did not require to be ratified by 
the comitia curiata, but by the senate, because it relates to matters of civil administra- 
tion. 



THE DECEMVtKS AND LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 6? 

given up to the plebeians. The third concession was more 
important. One of the consuls proposed a law which limited 
the amount of fines which any magistrate, consul as well as 
tribune, could impose, to two sheep and thirty oxen. 1 

These concessions, however, did not satisfy the plebeians. 
After a conflict of nearly ten years (b. c. 4G2-454) 2 a compromise 
was effected. The patricians gave way and allowed the com- 
mission to be appointed, but only from their own order. 3 First 
an embassy of three men 4 (triumviri) was sent to Athens to 
examine the laws of Solon and to southern Italy to study the 
manners and customs of the Greeks there. On their return 
ten men 5 were elected in the comitia centuriata for the year b. c. 
451, with full powers not only to draw up a code of laws, but 
to act as supreme magistrates until the new code should come 
into force. They performed their task with diligence and 
administered justice with impartiality. 

3. The Code of Roman Law. — The result of their labor 
was that they published on ten tables of brass the first code of 
Eoman law. This was sanctioned in the comitia centuriata and 
then declared binding on all the people. 6 These laws gave so 
much satisfaction to the people that new decemvirs — this time 
the plebeians as well as patricians — were elected for another 
year to complete the work. Appius Claudius was the only 
member re-elected. Two more tables were added, thus complet- 
ing the celebrated Twelve Tables of Laws, 7 the foundation of 
Eoman jurisprudence. They were affixed to the rostra in front 
of the Curia Hostilia, that all the people might read them. In 
the time of Cicero they were committed to memory by the boys 



1 The lex Aternia Tarpeja, carried in b. c. 454: twenty-four years after these fines 
were expressed in money, the sheep at ten asses (ceris gravis), the oxen at one hundred. 

2 In B.C. 454 the tribune proposed that this commission should be composed partly of 
plebeians and patricians. 

3 The patricians, from religious as well as political reasons, could never admit the 
plebeians to the commission, because it must be invested with the imperium. 

* The embassy was accompanied by Hermodoros, from Ephesus, as interpreter. 

5 Decemviri consulari imperio legibus scribundis. All the other magistrates were sus- 
pended and the plebeians gave up their tribunes. That this was only a temporary ar- 
rangement is evident from the fact that when the plebeians gave their consent to it in 
the concilium plebis, they reserved the leges sacratcB and lex Icilia. 

e The laws, since they changed the lex curia^a cU imperio, i. e. limited the consular 
imperium, must, after being carried in the comi'ia centuriata, first receive the sanction 
of ihepatrmn auctoritas and then come before the comitia curiata for ratification. 

7 XII Tabulce. 



68 THE DECEMVIRS AKf) LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 

in the schools. These laws made no comprehensive change in 
the existing laws. The law of debt — aside from fixing the rate 
of interest at ten per cent — remained the same. The distinction 
between the assidui and proletarii 1 and the invalidity of mar- 
riage between patrician and plebeian were confirmed anew. 
The significance of the measure consisted in the fact, that jus- 
tice must now be administered according to the known and 
prescribed form of law. The right of appeal, the laws relative 
to fines, imprisonment, and capital offences, remained the same. 2 

4. The Decemvirs Re-elected. — The work of the decem- 
virs gave great satisfaction. They ruled the first year with great 
mildness and impartiality. They had not quite finished their 
task. It was therefore necessary to choose decemvirs for the 
next year to complete the laws. The nearer the time of elec- 
tion approached (May 15), so much the more Appius Claudius 
sought to win the favor of the people. The patricians saw 
through his designs, and to prevent his re-election made him 
presiding officer in the comitia, thinking that, according to 
custom, he would not receive votes for himself. This did not 
succeed ; Appius not only allowed himself to be re-elected, but 
succeeded in securing the election of such men on the commis- 
sion as pleased himself. 

5. The Tyranny of the Decemvirs. — The decemvirs 
had scarcely entered upon their second year of office when they 
threw off the disguise, and the reign of terror began. They ap- 
peared in the forum, each with twelve lictors, and these carried 
the axes in the fasces, a sign that every citizen must fear for his 
life. Oppression fell the hardest on the moderate section of both 
parties, patrician as well as plebeian, who would not join the 
decemvirs. They neglected all the forms of the constitution ; 
they neither consulted the senate nor the people. When the 
term of their office expired they refused to abdicate. Belying 
on the extreme sections of both parties they continued their 
rule of undisguised tyranny until two acts of infamy united 

1 See pages 22 and 23. 

2 The assembly of plebeians lost their jurisdiction in criminal cases. All cases involv- 
ing the life of a Roman citizen (de capite civis Romani) must be decided in the comitia 
centuriata. 



THE DECEMVIRS AtfD LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 69 

patricians and plebeians to take up arms against them as they 
had once done against Tarquinius Superbus. 

6. The Murder of Sicinius Dentatus. — The news came 
that the Sabines were plundering the Koman territory and 
the iEquians had encamped on Mount Algidus. The danger 
was great. The decemvirs now, for the first time, called the 
senate together. The moderate section of the aristocracy, 
headed by Valerius Potitus and Horatius Barbatus, sought to 
carry energetic measures against them, but in vain. The patri- 
cians wished to overthrow Appius Claudius and his colleagues, 
but were opposed to the restoration of the tribunes, which was 
unavoidable, if the decemvirs were compelled to abdicate. The 
senate declared war and the levy was called out. The plebeians 
could not resist, because there was no right of appeal nor trib- 
unes to protect them. While Appius and one of his colleagues 
remained in the city to repress all signs of discontent, the 
others led the armies against the enemy ; but the soldiers al- 
lowed themselves to be defeated; Rome itself was in danger. 
In the army that fought against the Sabines was a brave sol- 
dier, named L. Sicinius Dentatus, a former tribune of the 
people, whom the decemvirs caused to be murdered because he 
had spoken loudly against the usurpation of the tyrants. 

7. The Death of Virginia. — Meanwhile in the city dis- 
content had already broken out by the outrages of Appius 
Claudius. He had conceived a passion for Virginia, a beautiful 
maiden, the daughter of Virginius, a plebeian hero. In order 
to get possession of her he suborned one of his clients to de- 
clare that she was the daughter of one of his slaves. As she 
came one day into the forum to school the tyrant had her seized 
and brought before his tribunal. Appius heard the claim of his 
client and pronounced the decision that put Virginia in his own 
power. Virginius, seeing that there was now no way of shield- 
ing his daughter from dishonor, hastened to the spot, plunged 
a knife into her breast before the eyes of the people, and, with 
the bloody weapon in his hand, escaping from the lictors, he 
rushed to the gates of the city and fled to the army. The 
storm now broke forth. The army espoused his cause, and 



70 THE DECEMVIKS AND LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 

marched to the city and encamped on the Aventine, where it 
was joined by the other army. Both armies withdrew to the 
Sacred Mount, The decemvirs were compelled to abdicate. 
An embassy, headed by Valerius and Horatius who had ever 
counseled measures of moderation, was sent to treat with the 
army. It was agreed that amnesty should be declared, and the 
tribunes of the people and the right of appeal should be 
restored. The first step of the tribunes was to take measures 
against the decemvirs. Appius Claudius and Oppius were im- 
peached and thrown into prison, where they put an end to 
their own lives. The other eight went into exile. 

8. Valerian and Horatian Laws 1 (b.c. 449).— Valerius 
and Horatius were elected consuls, 2 and their first act was to 
carry a number of laws, called the Valerio-Horatian Laws, 3 
which more clearly defined and further limited the consular 
imperiumA These laws were : 

1. The restoration of the lex sacrata, which guaranteed the 
inviolability of the plebeian tribunes and a formal recognition 
of the lex Icilia. 5 

2. That every Eoman citizen should have the right of ap- 
peal against the sentence of any magistrate. 6 And 

3. That the plebiscites, or resolutions passed by the plebeians 
in the concilium tributum plebis, should be binding on the 
whole people. 7 

9. The Tribunes Co-operate in Legislation. — The last 
law was a great gain to the plebeians, for it gave them, al- 
though with limited power, an opportunity to co-operate in 

1 After the abdication of the decemvirs, there was an interregnum. An inter rex 
summoned the comitia centuriata for the election of consuls. In due form they laid the 
lex curiata de imperio, (now modified by the laws of the Twelve Tables), after the pa~ 
trum auctoHtas had been granted, for ratification before the comitia centuriata. 

2 Hitherto the chief magistrates had been styled Prcetors. 

3 Leges Valerice Horatioe. 

4 These laws, it must be remembered, after being adopted in the comitia centuriata, 
and sanctioned by the patrum auctoritas, must come before the comitia curiata for 
confirmation, before they were binding on the people. 

5 Liv. iii. 53 ; see also p. 59. 

6 Ne quiz idlum magistratnm sine, provocatione crearet, qui creasset, eum jus fasque 
esset occidi, neve ea ccedes capitalis noxoe liaberetur. This right, in case of the ordinary 
magistrates, was, it will be remembered, established by the Valerian law in the first year 
of the republic ; it was now extended to the dictator. 

7 Ut quod tributum plebs jussisset, populum teneret (Liv. iii. 55). The?e resolutions 
must, like the laws passed in the cbmiiia centuriata, if they pertained to the imperium, 
be first sanctioned by the patrum auctoritas, and then ratified by the comitia curiata. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OE PLEBEIAN RIGHTS. 71 



legislation. Of this privilege they eagerly availed themselves. 
They soon claimed jurisdiction over matters of civil and inter- 
nal administration, matters that legally belonged to the senate, 
and must come before it for confirmation. Hence the practice 
arose for the tribunes first to submit their proposition to the 
senate, and then bring it before the people. In this way 
they gained admission to the discussions of the senate, at first 
only as listeners, sitting on benches before the doors of the 
senate-house. They were soon, however, admitted to the hall, 
and could not be prevented from placing their veto on any 
measure that displeased them. The validity of the veto was 
naturally denied by the patricians. 

10. The result was that when the senate apprehended the 
opposition of the tribune to any measure, this was met in 
advance and a compromise effected, or the measure was given 
up. The power of the tribunes, now considerably enlarged, 
was completely restored, and instead of being an instrument 
for the protection of the plebeians, it aimed to secure equality 
of civil and political rights between them and the patricians. 

11. Quaestors Elected by the People. — In the following 
year (b. c. 447), the election of quaestors, 1 whom the consuls had 
hitherto nominated, was committed to the comitia tribata, an 
assembly in which all the people in the tribes voted 2 on a foot- 
ing of equality. 



CHAPTER X. 



The Development of Plebeian Eights — Wars with 
Neighboring Nations — Military Tribunes with Consu- 
lar Power, (b. c. 445.) 

1. The results gained by the decemvirate had fully or- 
ganized the plebeian opposition. For once the claim of the 

1 The questors now became magistrates in the proper sense of the word, because 
they received their jwtestas from the people. They were elected from the patrician 
order only. 

2 Each tribe had one vote, the vote of the tribe being decided by the majority of 
voters in the tribe, and the majority of the tribes decided the question at issue. 



72 THE DEVELOPMENT OE PLEBEIAN EIGHTS. 

plebeians had been admitted, and they had sat in the cnrule 
chairs by the side of the proud patricians, and worn the in- 
signia of the highest office. The agitation which sprung from 
the social condition of the poor plebeians, the political tendency 
which the agitation had assumed since the time of Volero Pub- 
lilius, were only aimed to secure protection against the severity 
of the consular power. The plebeian nobility, who were as 
indifferent to the social condition of the poor plebeians as the 
patricians were, had hitherto stood firmly by the side of the 
patrician order. They now saw in the restoration of the tri- 
bunate with increased powers, and in the decrease of the patri- 
cian families, whose rule approached more and more that of an 
oligarchy, the means of obtaining complete political equality. 
The united strength of the plebeian order w T as directed against 
Jtwo exclusive privileges of the patricians. 

2. Military Tribunes with Consular Power (b. c. 
445). — The tribune Canulejus proposed two bills at the same 
time, one legalizing intermarriage 1 between the two orders, and 
providing that the children should follow the rank of the father, 
the other opening the consulship to the plebeians. The first 
became a law, but a compromise was effected in respect to the 
consulship. It was provided that in the future the people should 
be free to elect either consuls 2 or military tribunes " with consu- 
lar power," to be selected promiscuously from the patricians and 
plebeians. 3 In the first year (b.c. 444), the election of the three 
military tribunes 4 was annulled on account of a defect in the 
auspices, and their place was supplied by consuls. It was not 
till B.C. 438 that three military tribunes 5 were elected, and such 



1 It will be remembered (p. 38) that the patricians claimed the exclusive possession of 
the auspices, by means of which the divine protection was secured for the state. They 
had resisted intermarriage with the plebeians, not only because they and their descend- 
ants alone could take the auspices (auspicia publico) for the state, but also on the ground 
that the auspices (auspicia privata) employed at the marriage would be irregular. The 
first bill became a law at once, without being ratified by the comitia curiata, because it 
did not pertain to the imperium. 

2 That is, patricians ; for they alone were eligible to the conmUliin. 

3 Promiscve ex patribus et plebe. — Liv. iv. 6. The senate was to decide whether con- 
suls or military tribunes were to be elected. 

4 It was probably designed that they should be six in number, to correspond to the 
six military tribunes in each legion. 

5 It is uncertain whether one was a plebeian or not ; according to Schwegler two 
were plebeians. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLEBEIAN RIGHTS. 73 

was the influence of the patricians in the comitia centuriata, 
and the indifference of the poor plebeians, who felt little in- 
terest to promote the ambitious schemes of the rich plebeians, 
that it was not till B.C. 400 that five plebeians were elected mil- 
itary tribunes. 1 

3. The Censorship. — The plebeians then gained little from 
this reform. The patricians even devised a scheme to deprive 
the consular tribunes of an important part of the functions 
which bad belonged to the consulship. Hitherto the census on 
which the rank of every citizen in the state depended had been 
taken by the consuls. This duty was now (b.c. 445) committed 
to two new magistrates, styled censors. 2 They were chosen 
from the patricians by the comitia centuriata, and held their 
office until their duties were completed. 3 The censors ranked 
in dignity next to the consuls. The importance of the office 
consisted in the fact that they revised from time to time the 
register of the tribes, which regulated not only the military 
service of every citizen, but determined his position in the 
comitia centuriata. 4 ' It was their duty to fill up vacancies in 
the senate and equites, and, on the revision of the register of 
the tribes, to remove individuals from the list of senators, 
equites, and citizens. They subsequently exercised a general 
control over the finances of the state — the management of the 
public land and public works, the farming of the indirect 
taxes, and a general supervision over the public and private life 

1 It is difficult to discover in what the consular tribunes differed from the consuls. 
That they had the right to summon the senate and command the army is certain. They 
therefore possess the consularis potestas, and the imperium militim. It seems probable 
that the patricians possessed the full imperium dom-x and militice ; the plebeians the full 
imperium. militice but the imperium domi, so far limited that they could not exercise judi- 
cial functions. They could not triumph, for this presupposed the full imperium domi; as 
their imperium was different, so were the insignia and auspicia. They had the lictors 
and the sella curulis, for these were the insignia of the magistrate's potestas ; but not the 
jus imaginum. In regard to the auspicia, it had already come to pass that the auspicia 
outside of the pomerium were different from those inside. The plebeians possessed those 
outside the pomerium, the auspicia ex tripudiis in full but inside, the pomerium (the aus- 
picia urbana) not in the same manner as the patricians. For Mommsen's view, see his 
history, vol. i., p. 318. 

2 This is the view of Schwegler ; according to Mommsen, the censorship was estab- 
lished in b.c. 433 ; according to Livy (iv. 8), in b.c. 443. Schwegler has satisfactorily 
proved that it was a part of the reform of b.c 445. 

3 From the fact that when they had completed the census they held a solemn puri- 
fication of the city and people, called lustrum, their term of office was styled a lustrum, 
which in later times was five years. Their term of office was limited to eighteen months 
by the lex cemiiia, b.c 433. 

* See page 51, note 5. 

4 



74 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLEBEIAN EIGHTS. 



of every citizen. The plebeians were admitted to the censorship * 
B. c. 351. 

4. Increase in the Number of Quaestors.— In the year 

B. c. 421 another concession was made to the plebeians. The 
number of quaestors was increased from two to four. Two were 
to remain in the city, 2 and the other two, who could be elected 
either from patricians or plebeians, accompanied the army as 
paymasters. 3 

5. Spurius Mcelius.— During these struggles the patri- 
cians did not scruple to resort to violence. In the year B.C. 440 
there was a great famine in Eome. 4 Spurius Myelins, one of 
the wealthiest of the plebeian knights, in order to relieve the 
distress, bought up corn in Etruria through his friends and 
clients, which he sold at a low price or distributed gratuitously 
among the poor. In this way he acquired great popularity 
among the people. The patricians were alarmed, and he was 
accused of aiming at royal power. The danger was said to 
be great, for in the house of Mselius arms had been collected, 
and the tribunes had been bribed to betray the liberty of the 
republic. In this emergency the senate authorized one of the 
consuls to nominate a dictator. The aged Cincinnatus, who 
had saved the Eomaii army on Mount Algidus, was appointed. 
On the following morning he mounted his tribunal in the 
forum, and summoned Maelius to appear before him. Maelius 
knew the fate in store for him, and implored the protection of 
the people. Then G. Servilius Ahala, the master of the horse, 
drew his dagger, and killed Maelius on the spot. The dictator 
commanded his property to be confiscated, and his house lev- 
elled to the ground. The patricians, as we know from Cicero 
and others, always spoke of this deed in the highest terms, but 
the people regarded it as an act of murder ; and threatened ven- 



■ The censors did not possess the imperlum. therefore had no lictors. could not com- 
mand an army nor summon the comitia centuriata (except for matters relating to the 
census), therefore their election was not confirmed by the lex curiata de imperio but by 
the lex centuriata de censoria potest ate. 

2 Quaestores urbani. 

3 It was not until 409 that plebeians were actually elected. 
* Livy, iv. 12. 



WAKS WITH NEIGHBORING NATIONS. 75 



geance, because Maelius had been put to death without a trial. 
Their anger was turned against Servilius, who was compelled to 
go into exile, and his property was confiscated. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Wars with Neighboring Nations — Sack of Rome by 
the Gauls. 

1. Wars with the Volscians and iEquians. — While 
these struggles were going on in the city, the Eoman armies 
fought with less vigor in the field, and even allowed themselves 
to be defeated, in order that the consul might lose his triumph. 
The iEquians and Volscians pressed hard on the Eoman allies 1 
and even entered the dominion of Eome. The iEquians 2 en- 
camped again on Mount Algidus and laid waste the plains of 
Latium. The Latin towns could only look to Eome for assist- 
ance. The concessions granted by the decern virate and Can- 
uleian law seem to have pacified the people, so that they once 
more made head against their old enemies. They were success- 
fully driven back, and colonies were planted in the conquered 
districts, the method by which Eome secured her conquest in 
Italy, and from which, series of fortified posts she extended her 
dominion. 

2. The Conquest of Veji (b. c. 396). — The Eomans now 
turned their arms against the Etruscans on the north. The 
long feuds with Fidenae were ended by the conquest and de- 
struction of that city. Its territory 3 was added to that of the 
Eoman people. Next, Veji, 4 the most important town in 

1 The Hernicans and Latins. 2 Livy, ii and iii. s Ager publicus. 

4 About all that is known of Veji is that it was one of the most powerful of the Etrus- 
can cities ; that after a contest protracted for centuries, which at first centered round 
Fidenae, the city was at length taken by Camillus (Pint. Cam.). According to the 
annalistic accounts, the siege of Veji, like that of Troy, lasted ten years. In the eighth 



76 WAES WITH KEIGHBORIKG NATIONS. 

southern Etruria was attacked, and after a siege of ten years, 
taken. In order to conduct a siege of a well-fortified town like 
Veji, it was necessary for the Roman army to remain in the 
field summer and winter, year after year, until its object was 
attained. To secure this it was necessary that the soldiers 
should receive regular pay, a regulation that exerted a benefi- 
cial influence on the organization of the army, but gave a new 
turn to the straggle between the patricians and plebeians. 1 
The conquest of Veji added so considerably to the Roman 
territory, that four new tribes were formed, and the wealth ac- 
quired from the captured city must have given a new impulse 
to industry and trade, and Rome seemed to have entered upon 
a career of prosperity. This, however, was checked by the in- 
vasion of the Gauls, who dealt Rome a blow that almost put an 
end to her existence. 

3. Rome taken by the Gauls (b. c. 390).— The Celtic or 
Gallic nation had in early times spread over the western part of 
Europe. Some had settled in France and Britain, while others 
crossing the Alps, had penetrated to the valley of the Po,and given 
their name to the country. 2 On their plundering excursions, the 
Gauls laid waste with fire and sword the provinces of Central Italy. 



year of the war, the waters of the Alban lake rose suddenly to such a height as to 
overflow the surrounding country. The Romans sent an embassy to consult the 
Delphian oracle. In the meanwhile a voice was heard from the walls of Veji, say- 
ing that the city could only be taken when the waters of the Alban lake found an out- 
let. When this reached the ears of the Romans, they cut a tunnel through the side of 
the mountain which bounded the lake, and thus let the water flow into the plain. This 
suggested to the Romans the means of taking the city. Meanwhile M. Furius Camillus 
had been appointed dictator. He had a tunnel cut from the Roman camp under the 
walls to the citadel of Veji. When the mine was finished, CamilhiG diverted the atten- 
tion of the Vejentines by a feigned attack on the walls, and entered the tunnel at the head 
of a picked body of men. When he arrived at the end of the tunnel under the temple of 
Juno, he heard the priest saying to the king that whoever should complete the sacrifices 
he was offering would be victor. At that moment the Romans burst through and seized 
the victim, which Camillus offered on the altar. The troops dispersed through the city 
and opened the gates, and Veji fell into the hands of the Romans. The booty was im- 
mense. Camillus, on his return, celebrated the most magnificent triumph Rome had 
ever seen. In his chariot drawn by four white horses, he advanced along the sacred 
street, followed by his army flushed with joy and singing songs of victory, to the temple 
of Jupiter Capitolinus. 

In the hour of victory Camillus had vowed a tenth of the spoils to the Delphian 
Apollo. He now demanded from each soldier a tenth part of all the booty he had taken. 
This seemed unjust to the people. The tribune impeached him because he had not 
fairly divided the spoils. Seeing that he was sure to be condemned by the people, he 
left Rome, and retired to Ardea. 

1 For the pay was to come from the city treasury (the JErarium) , i.e n from the taxes 
on the public lands. 

2 Gallia Cisalpina, 



WARS WITH NEIGHBORING NATIONS. 



77 



The Roman army was defeated by them, and Kome itself laid 
in ashes. As the Gauls 



were merely on a plun- 
dering expedition and 
were not prepared to 
make permanent con- 
quests, after collecting 
their booty they retired, 
according to Polybius, 
unmolested. 1 

4. The Distress of 
the Poor. — After the 
retreat of the enemy the 
Eomans returned to 
their homes. Their 
houses and temples had 
been burned, their farms 
laid waste, their cattle 
driven off, and their 
farm-buildings destroyed. 




The Celtic Arms. 



It is no wonder that the poor 



1 Polybius ii. 22, § 5; according to Livy (v. 33 ff.), the Gauls were induced to cross the 
Alps by a citizen of Clusium, who v/ished to avenge himself on his enemy. The Gauls, 
under their leader, Brennus, laid siege to the city. The Clusians applied to Rome for as- 
sistance. The senate sent three envoys, the sous of M. Fabius Ambustus, to warn the 
Gauls not to attack the friends and allies of the Roman people, from whom they had 
received no harm. The Gauls in reply promised peace if the Clusians would grant them 
land to settle upon. All efforts to effect a reconciliation were in vain, a battle was fought, 
in which the three Romans, contrary to the laws of nations, took part, and riding beyond 
the line, even slew a Gallic chief and took his armor. The Gauls then gave up the 
attack against the Clusians and sent ambassadors to Rome to complain of their injuries, 
and demand the surrender of the three Fabii. The senate wavered, but the people not 
only refused satisfaction, but elected the three envoys as consular tribunes for the next 
year. This so incensed the Gauls that, they left Clusium and marched with all their 
force to Rome. On the river Allia, only eleven miles from Rome, the two armies met. 
The Romans were put to flight and fled in all directions. This was the most disastrous 
day for Rome, and the anniversary (July 18) of the battle was ever regarded as an 
unlucky day. The city was even deserted. The fugitives fled in crowds across the 
Tiber. The sacred utensils were buried, and the sacred fire carried to Caere. Every- 
thing else, the images of the gods, the bronze tablets of the laws, the old annals, all 
written documents,' were abandoned to the enemy. They only had time to defend, the 
capitol, the temple of Jupiter, the guardian of the city. The aged senators, and priests 
of the gods, seeing that their services were no longer useful to the state, disdained to 
preserve their lives by flight. They were slaughtered by the Gauls, each as he sat in the 
gateway of his house, on his curule chair. For seven months the Gauls laid siege to the 
capitol, but the garrison, under the command of Manlius, made a gallant resistance. At 
length the remnant of the Roman army recovered from its terror, and wished to deliver 
the city from the barbarians. This they felt could only be done under their old leader, 
Camillas. He was still in banishment at Ardea. He could not be recalled without a 
decree of the senate. Therefore a bold youth, named Pontius Cominius, undertook to 
go from Veji and communicate with the senate in the capitol. He swam down the 
Tiber, climbed up the side of the Capitoline hill, and, after receiving the decree of the 



78 WARS WITH NEIGHBORING NATIONS. 

shrank from the toil of rebuilding, and the annalists in after 
times related that they wished to emigrate to Veji. The old 
Roman courage and Roman perseverance, however, triumphed. 
The senate was firm, the spirit of the people 1 was unbroken. 
Only one thought animated them, to rebuild their city and 
recover their position in Latium. The hard times pressed 
heavily on the poor plebeians. They were compelled to borrow 
from the patricians. The rates of interest were high, military 
service and taxes oppressive; all their old distress returned. 
As in former times it had sometimes happened, a noble patri- 
cian espoused their cause — Manlius, the defender of the capitol, 
the hero of many battles. One day when he saw a debtor, a 
centurion of the army, carried away to prison, he paid his debts 
and set him free. He sold his estate near Veji and advanced 
money, free of interest, to more than four hundred poor plebeians. 
5. Manlius Condemned, — This aroused the patricians. 
The senate nominated a dictator who summoned Manlius be- 
fore his tribunal. The excitement in the city was great. The 
senate was compelled to yield, and Manlius was liberated. At 
length, like Sp. Cassius, he was accused of aiming at royal 
power, and was brought to trial before the comitia centuriata. 
In sight of the capitol which his valor had saved, the people 
could not condemn him. Shortly afterwards he was again 
brought to trial in the grove of Pcetelius, where the capitol was 
not visible. He was condemned and hurled from trie Tarpeian 
rock 2 (b.c. 384). 

senate recalling Camillus and appointing him dictator, returned the same way. The 
next morning the Gauls saw the marks of the ascent and determined to surprise the 
citadel in the same way. A Gaul had almost reached the summit when the geese sacred 
to Juno roused the garrison, and Manlius hurled his shield against the foremost Gaul, 
who, in his fall, overthrew the others behind him. The Gauls began to weary of the 
long siege and wished to withdraw. Negotiations were opened and it was agreed 
that Rome should pay one thousand pounds of gold as a ransom. When the gold was 
being weighed out, in the forum, Brennus, the leader of the Gauls, is said to have increased 
the amount by throwing his sword into the scale. At this moment Camillus appeared in 
the forum with a large army, and ordered the gold to be taken away, saving that Rome 
must be ransomed by steel and not by gold. The battle was fought near Gabii and not a 
Gaul escaped ; even Brennus himself was taken prisoner. The Gauls returned again, in 
b. c. 3J1, when Titus Manlius killed a gigantic Gaul in single combat, and obta ned the 
surname of Torquatus, from the golden necklace (torques) which he stripped from the 
neck of the barbarian ; and again in b. c 349, when Marcus Valerius accepted a challenge 
to single combat with a gigantic Gaul, and a raven perched on the helmet of the Roman 
and flew in the face of the Gaul. Valerius slew the Gaul and received the name of Corvus. 
The story about Camillus was invented at a later time to celebrate the Furian house. 

1 See p. 81. 

2 It is generally agreed among modern historians that Manlius was condemned by the 



THE EQUALIZATION OF THE ORDEKS. 79 



cecaiptihir, xii. 

The Equalization of the Ordeks. 

1. The Political Condition of the Plebeians. — During 
these struggles no action had been taken in regard to the public 
lands, or a reform in the system of credit. The acquisition of 
new territory after the conquest of Veji had renewed the agra- 
rian agitation. The social condition of the plebeians, on ac- 
count of their long service in the army, had been by no means 
improved. The colonies planted in the conquered territory 
had given only temporary relief. After the burning of Borne 
by the Gauls, the plebeians sank deeper than ever in distress 
and poverty. Individual tribunes attempted from time to time 
to revive the law of Cassius, and some of the patricians, like 
Manlius, attempted to remedy the social distress, but without 
avail. But few plebeians had been elected to any of the higher 
magistracies open to them. If, under circumstances of great 
excitement, a plebeian was elected, the colleges of sacred lore 
might be called in to see if there were not some informality in 
the auspices which would annul the election. Besides, the poor 
plebeians felt little interest in advancing the plebeian nobility 
so long as their own distress was unrelieved. 

2. The Licinian Laws (b. c. 366). — Under these cir- 
cumstances the plebeian nobles were convinced that the only 
way to wring from the patricians the recognition of their claim 
to an equal share in the government, was to secure the co- 
operation of the poor plebeians by first introducing measures to 
relieve the social distress. For this purpose G. Licinius Stolo 1 

comitia centuriata or comitia curiata ; Livy, however, calls the assembly a concilium 
populi (Liv. vi. 20, 11) ; was not this probably the assembly of the patres gentium patri- 
ciarum ? See p. 50, n. 3. 

1 Livy (vi. 34), after relating the apathy in which the plebeians had sunk, introduces 
the following incident as the cause of the reform. The two daughters of M. Fabius Am- 
bustus had been married, the elder to the patrician, Servius Sulpicius, the younger to 
the plebeian, G. Licinius Stolo. It happened that the two sisters, the Fabiae, were one 
day sitting in conversation in the house of Sulpicius, who at that time was consular 
tribune, and a lictor of Sulpicius, when he returned from the forum, rapped as usual 



80 THE EQUALIZATION OF THE OEDERS. 

and Lucius Sextius, tribunes of the people, brought before the 
plebeian assembly of tribes two measures for relieving the dis- 
tress of the poor and one to advance the claims of the plebeian 
nobility. These were the celebrated Licinio-Sextian rogations. 
They enacted : 

1. That the interest already paid on borrowed money should 
be deducted from the principal, and the balance paid in three 
yearly instalments. 1 

2. That no person should possess more than five hundred 
jug era of the public land. 2 

3. That in future, consuls and not military tribunes should 
be elected, and one of the two consuls must be a plebeian. 3 

3. The Office of Praetor Created. — The struggle for these 
reforms lasted ten years. 4 The senate impeded the measures 
by making use of the veto of some one of the tribunes. Then 
Licinius and Sextius prevented the election of all patrician 
magistrates. In order to overcome the people the aged Camillus 
was appointed dictator. All, however, was in vain. The ple- 
beians even increased their demands by asking admission into 
the priestly colleges, the sacred citadel of patrician exclusiveness. 5 



with his fasces loudly on the door, to announce the arrival of his master. Frightened 
at the noise, which she was unaccustomed to, the younger sister started, and excited the 
mirth and derision of the elder, who informed her of the cause of the noise. Wounded 
in her pride and humbled that she, the wife of a plebeian, was to forego the pomp and 
honor of official rank, she rested not till she had instigated her father, as well as her hus- 
band, to change the order of things in Koine, and to bring about a reform by which she 
would be able to show herself equal to the noblest matrons. — This story does not stand 
examination. How could the daughter of M. Fabius Ambustus, who himself had been 
consular tribune four years before, have been frightened at the knocking of the lictor at 
the house-door, or have felt herself degraded by marrying a man whose family had 
already held the chief magistracy in the state, and who could expect the same distinction 
for himself ? The story is one of that class by which the vulgar attempt to discover the 
cause of great events in trivial or accidental circumstances. It is characteristic of the 
ancient historians that this absurd story is repeated by Livy and his successors without 
the least hesitation, as if it were perfectly authenticated.— Bine's Hist., vol. i., p. 318. 

1 JJt deducto eo de capito, quod usuris pernumeratum esset, id, quod superesset, tri- 
ennio cequis portionibus persolveretur : it was probably intended that only the amount 
of interest in excess of the legal interest should be deducted from the principal. 

2 Ne quisplus quingenta jugera agri possideret. This article also contained provision 
in regard to the number of cattle which each could feed upon the public pastures (100 
head of large and 500 of small), and also that the number of free men which each em r 
ployed upon his farm should be proportioned to the number of slaves. 

3 Ne tribunorum militum comitia fterent , consulumque utique alter explebe crearetvr. 
* Only the first article fell within the jurisdiction of the plebeian assembly of tribes ; 

the other, which pertained to the imperivm, belonged to the comitia ce?ituriata, and 
before it could become a law required the sanction of the patrum auctoritas and then 
the ratification of the comitia curiata. 

5 That the care of Sibylline books should be taken from the two patricians and ei> 
trustee! to ten men composed equally of patricians and plebeians. 



THE EQUALIZATION OF THE ORDEKS. 81 

The bill was at last carried, and Lucius Sextius was elected the 
first plebeian consul. The patricians attempted even then to 
nullify the election. The plebeians threatened another secession. 
Then the aged Camillus saw it was too late, and came forward 
as a mediator and peace-maker. A compromise was effected. 
The consular imperium was limited, under the pretext that the 
nobility alone could declare the law and preside at the tribunal, 
by conferring its judicial duties on a new patrician magistrate 
called praetor. 1 Then the election was ratified and the plebe- 
ians were admitted to the highest honors of the state. Hence- 
forth the word populus had a new import; it embraced the 
citizens of both orders. The long struggle between the orders 
would have ended here, had there not been some among the 
patricians who could not regard their defeat as decisive, and, 
hence, sought to regain their privileges. For the present, how- 
ever, there was peace, and Camillus commemorated the close of 
the long era of civil strife by dedicating a temple to Concord 
and by adding a fourth day to the great Koman games. 

4. Further Progress of the Plebeians. — The patricians 
still retained certain exclusive privileges, but the plebeians 
were finally admitted to these — to the dictatorship in b. c. 
356, to the censorship in b. c. 351, to the prsetorship in 
B.C. 337. By the Ogulnian law in b. c. 300 the number of 
pontiffs was increased from five to eight, and that of the 
augurs from six to nine, and it was enacted that four pontiffs 
and five augurs should be taken from the plebeians. 2 The ad- 
mission of the plebeians to the sacred colleges was necessary in 
order that they might be free from patrician influence in taking 
the auspices and performing the sacrifices for the state. 3 

1 The praetor was attended by six lietors ; the number of praetors was soon increased 
to two, viz. : the prcetor urbanus, who administered the law between citizens, and the 
prcetor peregrinus took charge of all cases in which foreigners were concerned. 
Another concession to the patricians was that two new magistrates called curule 
cediles to distinguish them from the plebeian sediles were appointed to superintend the 
public game ; but the office was soon open to plebeians. 

2 The religious privileges of the patricians that had no political importance were not 
interfered with, such as exclusive eligibility to the office of the three supreme flamines, 
that of rex sacrorum, and the guilds of Salii ; see pp. 36, 37. 

a Henceforth it was to no purpose that a patrician augur detected secret flaws in the 
auspicies, and that the patrician censor did not permit his colleague to present the solemn 
sacrifice with which the census closed. It became the custom also for the patrician presi- 
dents of the senate {princeps senatus), not the patrician members, but those who had at- 
tained to the consulship, praetorship, and curule aedileship to give their opinion in order 
and without distinction of class, while the senators who had helcL none of these offices still 
even now took part merely in the division (see also p. 88, n. 2). 



82 COKTIKUED AGITATION. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Contestted Agitation — The Mutiny of B. C. 342 — The 

PuBLILIAN AND HoRTENSIAN LAWS. 

1. The Licinian laws had brought about political equality. 
A certain reaction set in. The patricians once more thwarted 
the claims of the plebeians, and elected both consuls from their 
own order. 1 This produced violent discontent. The patricians 
sought to pacify it by concessions. The rate of interest estab- 
lished by the Twelve Tables was not only renewed, but in B. c. 
347 was reduced to five per cent. The dictatorship and censor- 
ship were opened to the plebeians. 

2. The Mutiny of B. C. 342.— Still the state of affairs was 
unsettled and discontent widespread. In the year B.C. 342, when* 
the army was wintering in Campania, it broke forth. The con- 
suls perceived the danger and tried to avert it by granting fur- 
loughs. The army mutinied and marched to Eome. The gov- 
ernment had to yield. The Licinian laws were re-established. 

It was further agreed — 

1. That both consuls might be plebeians. 2 

2. That no Eoman soldier when in actual service should be 
discharged from the army without his consent. 3 

3. That no one should be re-elected to the same magistracy 
within ten years. 4 

4. All interest on loans was abolished. 5 

3. The Publilian Laws (b. c. 339).— Still there was a 
strong party among the nobility, which were constantly at- 

1 The consular Fasti for fourteen years (352-339), show the names of twenty-one 
patricians and only seven plebeians. 

2 Utique liceret consules ambos plebejos creari.—lAv. vii. 42. 

3 Ne cvjus militis scripti nomen nisi ipso volente deleretur.—JAv. vii. 41. 

4 Ne quis eundem magistratum intra decern annos caperet neu duos magistrates anno 
gerere.—Liv. vii. 42. 

5 This is the so-called plebiscitwn Genucium, and was carried during this year.— Liv. 
vii. 42. It is hardly to he supposed that the intention of this law was to abolish interest 
altogether. The intention probably was to forbid an illegal rate of interest ; this view is 
supported by the proceedings when the praetor Aeellio revived the law (p. 240) ; see 
Lange, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 38 : for Ihne's view, see his history, vol, i, p. 348. 



CONTINUED AGITATION. 83 

tempting to regain their former power. The senate managed the 
new acquisitions of land not according to the Licinian laws, but 
according to its own interests. The patricians still possessed 
the right to nullify the action of the people by refusing their 
sanction to the resolutions carried in the comitia. Under these 
circumstances the dictator, Q. Publilius Philo, in the year B. c. 
339, proposed three laws which stand in close connection with 
the revolt of b. c. 342, and which were intended to abridge still 
further the privileges of the patricians. 1 It was enacted : 

1. That the resolutions carried in the plebeian assembly of 
tribes should be binding on all the people. 2 

2. That all laws passed in the comitia centuriata should re- 
ceive previously the sanction of the patrum auctoritas. s 

3. That one of the two censors must be a plebeian. 4 - 

4. Changes in the Constitution. — The first law is but a 
re-enactment of the Valerio-Horatian laws of B.C. 449. The 
patricians had from time to time prevented the law from being 
carried into effect, and succeeding in this, had finally ques- 
tioned the validity of the law itself. Hence its re-enactment. 
The second law, by requiring the previous sanction of patrum 
auctoritas to the action of the assembly of centuries, effectually 
abolished the veto power of the patricians over legislation. 5 
The third law secured to the plebeians a share in one of the 
most important offices of the state. 6 This was an important 
gain for the plebeians, for it gave them a voice in determining 

1 Livy (viii. 12) characterizes them as secundissimas plebi, adversas nobilitati. 
m 2 TJt pleHscita omnes Quiriies tenerent.—L\v. viii. 12. Mommsen (Rom. Forch, p. 200) 
thinks that this clause, as well as that in ihe Valerio-Horatian laws, applied to measures 
"carried in the comitia tributa ; and the Hortensian law, to those carried in the concilium 
plebis. This supposition involves a very material emendation of the text of Livy, with- 
out which it is unsupported. 

3 TJt legum quce comitiis centuriatisferrentur ante initum svffragium patres auctores 
fierent.—Liv. viii. 12. 

4 TJt alter utique ex plebe cum eo (mntum sit), ut utrumque plebejum (consulem) fieri 
liceret, censor crearetur.—Livj, viii. 12. 

5 The result of this law was to transfer the control over legislation from the patricians 
to the nobility, i.e., from the concilium patrum famUias gentium patriciarum, which be- 
stowed the patrum auctoritas to the senate (to the senatus consultum which preceded the 
rogations), which henceforth exercised the patrum auctoritas. As this was an important 
change of the constitution, it needed the sanction of the pat/rum auctoritas, which it 
could never have secured had it not been felt that the new nobility in the initiative of the 
senate and the magistrate (the sanction of the patrum auctoritas for the election of 
magistrates was not repealed) still held control over legislation. 

6 As this law only related to the censoria potestas and not to the imperium, it did not 
require the confirmation of the patrum auctoritas or any change in the lex curiata de 
imperio. 



84 CONTINUED AGITATION. 

who should be senators and equites, and prevented the patri- 
cians from managing the proletariates and freedmen in the in- 
terests of their own order. 

5. The Hortensian Laws. — After the successful conclu- 
sion of the third Samnite war, the nobility attempted to draw 
the reins of government a little firmer, as they felt secure in 
their power. In consequence of the tribute of B.C. 293 and the 
pestilence which continued for several years, the plebeians 1 fell 
into debt again, and the conflict between the nobility and ple- 
beians, between the rich and poor, was renewed with its old 
fierceness. The tribune proposed a law r2 for the relief of the 
poor debtor, which led to a violent contest between the senate, 
as the organ of the nobility, and the people. This caused the 
people to secede once more — this time to the Janiculus — and 
they were not induced to return until the proposals of the dic- 
tator, Q. Hortensius, were adopted (about b. c. 286). Besides 
amnesty and relief from their present indebtedness, the dicta- 
tor carried the following laws : 

1. That the resolutions of the plebeians should be binding 
on all the Quirites. 

2. That ail laws passed in the concilia plebis should receive 
previously the sanction of the patrum auctoritas? 

3. That the concilia plebis, like the comitia centuriata, could 
not meet on market days. 4 

6. Further Changes in the Constitution. — The first law 
seems to be only a re-enactment of a measure already twice 
guaranteed. We must consider, however, that the senate was 
in no way bound to execute the nieasures carried in the ple- 
beian assembly, and that it had just failed to execute a law for 
the relief of the debtor class. 5 The second pro vision defined 

1 Inftma plebs. 2 Be cere alieno. 

3 This law placed the resolutions of the people on the same level as those carried in 
the comitia csnturiata ; from this time the legislative powers of the concilium plebis were 
recognized ; see note 2, page 83. 

4 Ut nundinal fastce essent. With the Romans the days on which the prcetor could ad- 
minister justice or the public assemblies meet, were called dies fasti. The comitia could 
be held, however, only on a certain number of these days, called dies comitiales ; these 
were 184 in number. Dies nefasti were days when neither the courts of justice nor the 
comitia were allowed to be held. By the lex Hortensia the nundince became fasti non 
comitiales. 

5 Be cere alieno. 



THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT. 85 

more clearly the measures to which the veto of the senate was 
applicable. 1 The third clause gave the nobility an indirect 
control over legislation in the plebeian assembly by making it 
illegal to transact business on the nundince or market-days. On 
these days the plebeians came in large numbers to the city, and 
the assembly was likely to be fully attended. Since the nobility 
had control of the calendar, they could postpone action on 
any measure proposed in this assembly injurious to their inter- 
ests by declaring the clay on which the concilium met to be a 
holiday (ferice), and therefore illegal to transact business. 2 



chapter, xiv. 

The People and the Government. — The Rise of the 
New Nobility. 

1. The passage of these laws ended the long struggle between 
the two orders. 3 The extension of Eoman sovereignty over 
Italy and the colonies which she planted to secure that power, 
improved the condition of the middle class. The increase of 
the indirect revenue rendered it seldom necessary to impose 
direct taxes. The wealth which began to centre in Borne, 
through war and commerce, reduced the rate of interest. The old 
disputes and political agitations gradually died out. A new era 

1 That it did not entirely abolish the veto power of the senate is known from the fact 
that several decrees of the people, highly disagreeable to the senate, were annulled, where 
no failure in the auspices had occurred. The law relates especially to measures that re- 
quired for their execution the co-operation of the senate, although carried in direct oppo- 
sition to it. It can be said, then, that the lex Publilia gave the people a veto power over 
the decrees of the senate— a negative power over its action. The lex Hortensia declared 
that resolutions of the people in relation to administrative measures, carried in direct op- 
position to the senate, had the force of law and must be executed. That no law passed in 
opposition to the senate was carried into execution until the agrarian law of Flaminius, 
b. c. 232, is owing to the fact that the tribunes, without directly neglecting the interests 
of the people, were under the control of the nobility. 

2 The nobility could also annul a measure by declaring that it was adonted on a day 
when it was illegal for the concilium to meet. Ihne (I. c. vol. i. p. 448;. Niebuhr {Rom. 
Hist., vol. hi., p. 420), and Arnold (I.e. vol. ii. p. 3^7), assume that the movement which 
led to the lex Hortensia was connected with the agrarian law of Manius Curius, the con- 
queror of the Samnites. 

3 About this time the plebiscite >/m Moenium was carried, which compelled the patricians 
to give their sanction to the election of magistrates beforehand, as they already had to do 
to legislation, i. e. the concilium patrinn familias gentium potric. must, before the elec- 
tion, grant the patrum auctoritas which empowered the candidate, in case of election by 
the people, to lay the lex curiata de imperio before the comitia curiata for its approval. 



86 THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT. 

began. The equality it is true was only formal. A new no- 
bility arose. The rich plebeians, after the Canuleian law legal- 
ized intermarriage, raised themselves above their fellow-plebeians. 
It was no longer the plebeians, but the common people, that 
were treated as an inferior class. The old nobility melted 
away. A new nobility, founded on office and wealth, sprung 
from it. The germs of a new aristocracy and a new democracy 
were formed ; but for the present all contest was suspended. - 
The glorious victories and their grand results silenced faction. 

2. The Popular Assemblies. — The result of the long 
struggle had changed considerably the relation of the assemblies 
to each other and to the senate. The comitia centuriata, with 
its system of auspices and complicated classification, still re- 
tained the right to vote on a declaration 1 of war and elect the 
higher magistrates, but was superseded for legislative purposes by 
the comitia tribnta. To the latter was assigned the election of all 
the newly established magistrates except the censor and prsetor, 
and it even assumed functions legally belonging to the comitia 
centuriata, and in course of time questions involving peace and 
war came before it. The decisions in this assembly fell more 
and more to the four city tribes because the vast extension 
of Eoman territory had so increased the number of tribes that 
it was impossible for them to act in concert, especially since the 
right of initiation and discussion were not allowed. 2 The con- 
cilium tributiim plehis had been placed, in regard to legislation, 
by the Hortensian law, on a footing of equality with the comi- 
tia centuriata. As only plebeians could vote in this assembly, 
the patricians were excluded from taking a part in the enact- 
ment of some of the most important laws. 

3. The Composition of the Body of Citizens. — Appius 
Claudius attempted to introduce a radical reform not only in 

1 It must be remembered that this vote of the people did not actually declare war but 
simply empowered the senate to declare and wage war. The actual declaration of war 
must be made by the fetialis sanctioned by the patrum aucloritas. 

- The comitia centuriata was organized originally for military purposes (see p. 23). 
The annalists represent the Eoman avmy as composed mostly of plebeians. In the as- 
sembly of centuries, for political purposes, the patricians (or later the nobility) on the 
contrary had a decided majority ; for they were sufficiently strong to carry the elections. 
This shows that the comitia centuriata had become a mere political organization and that 
the army was formed on a different basis. When this change took place none of the 
original authorities tell us ; see pp. 23 and 51, note 5. 



THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVEKNMENT. 87 

the plebeian assembly of tribes, but in the other assemblies as 
• well. Hitherto only freeholders, 1 could be members of the 
country tribes, 2 while in the city tribes 3 not only tradesmen and 
artisans, but the clients and freedmen had been enrolled. For- 
merly the freedmen had constituted an important part of the 
population, but after the conquest of Veji the number of slaves 
had largely increased, and, as manumission was frequent, the 
number of freedmen became very numerous. When Home be- 
came the capital of Latium it was a centre to which more and 
more tradesmen, artisans, and adventurers flocked. Although 
enrolled in the tribes, they were excluded from the classes and 
from military service. They enjoyed all the private rights but 
none of the political privileges of Eoman citizens. 

4. The Innovation of Appius Claudius/— This class 
began to show symptoms of discontent, and Appius Claudius, 
regarding them as a real danger to the state, or to increase his 
own influence, as censor enrolled them in any tribe they wished. 
The result was that not only the concilium tribidum plebis but 
the comitia tributa and the comitia centuriata, since the freed- 
men who possessed landed property were admitted to the classes, 
were rendered more democratic than ever. This arrangement, 
however, was reversed by the censors, Fabius and Decius (b. c. 
304), who confined this class to the four city tribes. Still great 
powers had been committed to the assembly of tribes. How easy 
was it for the demagogues to avail themselves of this favorable 
state of things to carry laws for grants of land, for distribution 
of money or reduction of debt. ISTo effort, however, was made 
in this direction for the present. The danger was afar off. The 
republican spirit and love of country were too strong. For the 
present all parties united in bringing to a successful issue that 
career of conquest on which Eome had now embarked. During 
this period the public assemblies were only the means which 
the nobility used to govern the commonwealth. 

5. The Weakening of the Consular Powers. — At 
the beginning of the struggle the consul was the chief magis- 



3 Tribus rusticaz. s Tribus urbancz. 



88 THE PEOPLE AID THE GOVERKMEKT. 

trate in the state. At the end of the contest his powers had 
been so weakened that the most important functions — the ad- 
ministration of justice, the election of senators and equites, the 
classification of citizens, the taking of the census, and the 
management of the finances — were transferred to others. For- 
merly the consuls, although everywhere co-ordinate, divided 
between themselves their different spheres of duty. 1 Now it 
was usual for the senate to define annually the provinces, and, 
in case of extremity, it could suspend the consuls by appointing 
a dictator. 

7. The Senate; its Composition. — The senate practi- 
cally governed the Roman republic. It still consisted of three 
hundred members who held their office for life unless deprived 
of it by the censors. At first all vacancies were filled by the 
consul; but by the Ovinian law (about b. c. 351) the power was 
transferred to the censors. This law enacted that every one 
who had been consul, praetor, or curule-sedile, 2 was entitled to 
a seat in the senate. These were not enough to keep the sen- 
ate up to its full number, hence the censor could elect those 
who had not held office. The senate, as the centre of the noble 
houses, controlled the elections, and really took the reins of 

1 Provinciw. 

2 By the plebiscitam Atinum, b. c. 204, those who had been tribunes were entitled to 
a seat in the senate (questors were not included until the time of Sulla). It must be 
remembered that although these ex-magistrates were admitted to the senate on the expi- 
ration of their term of office, they were not actual senators, only having the jus sentential 
dicendce, until the next lectio senatus took place. The insignia of the senators who had 
held a curule office {senator es magistratibus curulibus fundi) were the tunica laticlavia 
and mulleus. The senators who had not held a curule office were styled senatores pedarii 
because they assented to the opinions of the considares, prcetorii, etc., and when the divi- 
sion was taken voted with their feet {pedibus in sententiam ire). The order in which the 
senators ranked was, considares, proetorii, cedilitii, tribunicii, qucestorii and adlecti (those 
who had never held any office which entitled them to admission to the senate). From the 
oldest consulares the princeps senatus was selected by the censor. The senators had seats 
reserved for them in that part of the theatre called the orchestra, also at the celebrations 
of the public games. The senate could only meet in a place consecrated by the augurs (or 
templum). The ordinary place of meeting for many centuries was the curia Hostilia 
(until b. c. 215), erected on the north side of the comitium on a part of the Vulconal. 
Later the senate had many other places of meeting, as the temple of Apollo, Jupiter Capi- 
tolinus, Bellona, in the magnificent Curia Julia and others. The magistrates who had 
a right to summon the senate were the consul, interrex (prcefecius vrbis^, dictator, magis- 
tsr equitum, decemviri, consular tribunes, prcetor vrbanus (after e. c. 366), and the trib- 
unes of the plebs (about b. c. 216). In the earliest times the senators assembled on the 
area Vidcani and were summoned by a prceco, or herald ; in later times public notice was 
posted up a few days beforehand. It depended wholly upon the presiding magistrate 
what business he would lay before the senate {referred. The senators, in speaking, could 
express their opinion on other subjects ; Cato always added, at the conclusion of his 
opinion, ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ; when the final vote was taken the 
senators separated and stood on different sides of the house {discessio). 



THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT. 89 



public affairs into its own hands. Even the tribunes of the 
people bowed to its authority. The noble houses in the senate 
could control legislation, since no law could be proposed to the 
people unless they first sanctioned it. In fact, in regard to war 
and peace, the management of the finances and the control of 
the public land, all depended upon the senate. The senate 
issued instructions to the consuls, assigned the provinces,* fixed 
the number of troops, provided supplies, and voted or withheld 
the triumph. 

8. The Senate a Consultative Body. — Still it must be 
remembered that the original and legal powers of the senate 1 
were to advise and not to command ; that it could exercise the 
functions of, government only so far as the magistrate volun- 
tarily submitted to its authority. It had no means of enforcing 
submission except by appointing a dictator, and this was only 
possible when one of the consuls lent his aid. Still so long as 
it governed with wisdom and moderation it kept its place at 
the head of the state. 

9. The Aristocratic Character of the Government. — 
Koine was a complete aristocracy and wielded that concentrated 
force which springs from an aristocracy. The upper classes 
were reinforced and reinvigorated by the infusion of new 
blood from rich plebeian families. The exclusive aristocracy 
of birth had been broken down ; the aristocracy of wealth 
took its place and wielded an overwhelming influence. A 
stable centre for that influence was provided in the senate, 2 
whose great powers gave it a preponderating weight during the 
long career of military conflicts on which Eome had now 
embarked. The time came at last, however, when the senate 
had to abdicate. The empire became too large even for that, 
and the nobility, thoroughly corrupt and selfish, used its great 
powers for their own advantage ; then the monarchy stepped 
in and transformed the freedom of the few, which had become 

a sham and nuisance, into an equal slavery for all. 3 

_ 

1 See page 29. 

2 The prominence of the senate at Rome is indicated by the official designation of the 
Roman government, 8. P. Q. B., i. e. Senatus populusque Quirites Bomanus, the senate 
and Roman people. 

3 Ihne, 1. c. vol. i., p. 451. * See p. 128, n. 3. 



SUMMARY. 

The Settlement of the Latins. 



Races in Italy. 



The Latins. 



Their 
Civilization. 



Latin Cantons. 



League of the 

Thirty 
Latin Cities. 



Foundation of 

Koine, 
B.C. 753. 



The 

Government. 



Kins 



Senate. 



Comitia 
Curiata. 



Arniy. 



Origin of the 
Plebeians. 



In Italy proper (see p. 108, n. 1) there were three races, 
viz., Etruscan, Iapygian, and Italian, all of which were 
probably (certainly tne last two) of the Indo-European 
stock. Of the different branches of the Italian race, the 
Latins were historically the most important. They set- 
tled in the plain between the Alban hills and the sea ; 
they had before their entrance into Italy attained to con- 
siderable degree of civilization— had laid the foundation 
of their social and civil constitution. The households 
(vici or pagi) were united by ties of blood or by nearness 
of locality into clans, and the householders' dwellings 
formed the clan- villages, which "were united, and all 
formed a canton. Each canton had a common centre, 
where justice was administered and the markets held. 
Around this central town, which was always situated on 
an elevated and easily defensible position, suburbs grew 
up, which formed the nucleus of the early Latin towns. 
The different Latin cantons united into a league, with 
Alba Longa at their head, known as the league of the 
thirty Latin cities. 

One of these cantons, the Roman, with its capital, 
Rome, situated on one of the hills on the Tiber about 
18 miles from its mouth, was destined to be the most 
eminent. The Ramnians, or Romans, as they were 
afterwards called, were not the only dwellers on these 
hills, but two other cantons were here, that of the Tities 
and that of the Luceres ; these three united for mutual 
protection and formed the Roman commonwealth. The 
government of these three cantons after the union 
was like that of all the other Latin cantons. All the 
heads of families were citizens, and were politically on 
a footing of equality. They chose the king, or leader 
in war, who held his office for life, and he nominated a 
council of elders, called the senate, and all the citizens 
met at his bidding in a public assembly called comitia 
curiata to enact laws or give their assent to war or peace. 
The citizens or householders were divided into 3 tribes, 
each tribe into 10 curiae, each curia into 10 gentes, and 
each gens in theory into 10 households ; therefore 300 
gentes, or 30 curiae, or 3000 households formed the pop- 
ulus, civitas, or community. Every household had to 
furnish one foot-soldier, and each gens a horseman and 
senator. The army thus consisted of 3000 foot-soldiers 
and 300 cavalry ; the senate of 300 members. 

The union of these three cantons gave the people a 
great superiority over the isolated cities of Latium, and 
one after another was subdued, and in some cases de- 



SUMMARY. 



91 



Reform in tlie 
Constitution. 



stroyed, and the people moved to Rome. These peo- 
ple (plebeians, as they were called) were entirely without 
political rights. Their efforts to obtain a share in the 
government led first to the reform of Tarquinius Priscus 
and then to that of S. Tullius, by which wealth and not 
birth was made the basis for the taxes and military ser- 
vice. This was a very important change. Hitherto the 
king, as high priest, had been all-powerful ; now the 
military and civil power, which gave Rome a superiority 
over the Latin cities, became predominant. The terri- 
tory was divided into four tribes or wards, and the pop- 
ulation that possessed land into five classes, and these 
classes into 193 centuries, which formed the comitia cen- 
turiata, as the people were called when summoned in 
military order on the Campus Martins by the king. 

The power of the king was carefully limited, and when, 
therefore, one of the kings, called Tarquinius Superbus, 
oppressed the members of the great houses and de- 
manded more than was right from them, they rose in 
rebellion and expelled him from the throne. Hence- 
forth, instead of entrusting the supreme power to one 
of their number for life, they determined to exercise it 
themselves in turn. According to tradition there were 
eight kings, but their history is almost fabulous. Regal 
period ended. B.C. 509. 



Expulsion of 
the Kins:. 



End of the 
Regal Period, 

B.C. 509. 



3Xo. of Kiii2:s. 



Character of 

the Roman 
Religion. 



Not 
Mythological, 



Supposed Chronology of the Kings. 

Romulus and Titus Tatius, B. c. 753-716 ; one year 
interregnum ; Numa Pompilius, 715-676 ; two years 
interregnum ; Tullius Hostilius, 674-642 ; Ancus Mar- 
tius, 642-618 ; L. Tarquinius Priscus, 618-578 ; Servius 
Tullius, 578-534 ; Tarquinius Superbus, 534-509. 

Religion. 

The groundwork of the religion of the Romans and 
Greeks was substantially the same. Both nations wor- 
shipped the powers of nature — the sun and moon, the 
earth and sky, water and air, light, darkness, health and 
sickness, were all objects of special worship. Most 
other nations invested their gods with human passions, 
worked out a system of genealogy, but the Romans 
regarded their gods as spiritual beings. They told no 
myths or stories about their gods before their contact 
with the Greeks. In fact, the Romans were little in- 
clined to enter into speculations concerning their gods, 
but they were very solicitous to perform the practical 
part — the prayers, vows, offerings, and ceremonies — 
this was their religion. 1 It had little to do with a spir- 



1 The word religion comes from the same root as obligation ; obligation denotes the 
service due from one person to another; religion the service that man owes the gods for 
the protection they give. 



92 



SUMMARY. 



Meaning of the 

Word 
Religion. 



Religious 
Observances. 



The Pour 
Sacred Colleges. 



The Auspicies. 



Their Ahuse. 



The Answer to 
the Augurs a 
Simple Yea or 
IVay. 



The Roman 
Religion 
National. 



State Religion. 



itual life, with morality, right-doing, with the conscience. 
It simply demanded the performance of certain services 
to the gods, and this entitled the Roman to an equiva- 
lent — general protection and assistance. 

No enterprise was ever undertaken, either in public 
or private life, without first consulting the will of the 
gods. No battle could be fought, no war declared, no 
act of any kind performed, until the assent of the gods 
had been obtained. Unlucky omens did not, however, 
deter the Roman from undertaking any enterprise ; he 
simply repeated the process of divination until favora- 
ble signs appeared. For these reasons the observances 
of their religion became very numerous, and the least 
oversight or mistake in one of these might draw down 
the anger of the gods. Hence it was necessary to have 
men thoroughly versed in the divine rites, that the cere- 
monial might be performed with scrupulous accuracy. 
For this purpose four sacred colleges : pontiffs, au- 
gurs, fetiales, and later the keepers of the Sibylline 
books. The head of every family was a priest ; every 
house, gens, curia, tribe, and finally the state, had its 
own sanctuary. The augurs assisted the magistrate 
when he wished to consult the will of the gods, i. e., 
take the auspicies ; the augur simply interpreted the 
signs, and if he announced signs that he did not see, the 
magistrate was justified in acting as if he really had seen 
them. This gave the augurs great power, and they soon 
began to use it for political purposes, and they an- 
nounced favorable or unfavorable auspicies as the in- 
terest of their party demanded. In this way elections 
were annulled, laws rejected, and consuls recalled. 
On this point the internal history of the republic for 
many centuries turned, for the argument of the patricians 
was that the plebeians could not take the auspicies, 
and therefore could not hold the highest magistracy. 

The gods declared to the augur their simple appro- 
bation or disapprobation of the enterprise concerning 
which they were consulted. When the gods signified 
that the undertaking was acceptable to them they gave 
no directions, neither did they guarantee success ; all 
was left to the discretion of men. 

The authority of the Roman gods extended no fur- 
ther than the state. Their religion was strictly national, 
and no god outside of the state could claim worship. 
It was a duty to worship the national deities, and trea- 
son of the worst kind to pay homage to foreign gods until 
their worship had been permitted by a public revolution. 

In the temple of Vesta was the symbolic hearth for 
the whole state. The state worshipped Jupiter, Mars, 
and Quirinus, and the enlarged state Jupiter, Juno, and 
Minerva, in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, while the 
Romans and their allies united in worship in the tem- 
ple of Diana on the Aventine. 



SUMMARY. 



92a 



Political and 
Social Dis- 
tinctions 

at Rome. 



The Establishment of the Republic. 
The Internal History. 
For several hundred years after the establishment of 
the republic the history of the Roman state is little more 
than (i) a struggle between the rich and poor ; (2) a con- 
test of the plebeians for equality of rights with the patri- 
cians ; (3) an effort to limit the power of the patrician 
consul, for the plebeians as yet had no share in the 
government, and they were often badly treated by the 
patricians. 

Laws Carried to Alleviate the Condition 

of the Poor. b.c. 

Old Debts "were Cancelled (p. 58) 494 

The Agrarian Law of Spurius Cassius (p. 62). . 486 
The Licinio-Sextian Law (p. 80, s. 1 and s. 2) 366 

The Rate of Interest was limited in B. c. 351 
to 10 per cent, and reduced in b. c. 344 to 5 per 
cent. In B. c. 349 a commission was appointed to 
make advances from the state treasury to needy 
persons who could give security. 

The Legislation of B. C. 342 forbade illegal 
rate of interest. 

The Various Colonies planted to secure Ro- 
man sovereignty in Italy improved the condition 
of the middle class. 

Laws Passed to Establish Political Equality 
between the Patricians and Plebeians. 

Plebeian Tribunes appointed 494 

The Icilian Law (p. 59) ... 493 

The Agrarian of S. Cassius (p. 62) 486 

The Publilian Law of Volero (p. 63) 471 

The number of Tribunes increased to ten (p. 66). 457 

The Terentilian Law (p. 65) 454 

The Icilian Lav/ (p. 66) , 454 

The Valerio-Horatian Laws (p. 70, s. 3) 449 

The Canulean Laws (p. 72) , 445 

Military Tribunes, "with consular powers" (p. 72) 445 

Sextio-Licinian Law (p. 80, s. 3) 366 

The Publilian Law (p. 83, s. 1 and s. 2) 339 

The Hortentian Law (p. 84, s. 1 and s. 2) 286 

The Ogulnean Law (p. 81) 300 

These laws established complete equality between the 
two orders. 

Laws Carried to Limit the Power of the 
Chief Magistrate. 

Valerian Laws (p. 53, s. 3) 509 

The Law of the Twelve Tables (p. 67) 450 

Quaestors appointed (p. 71) 447 

Censors appointed (p. 73) 445 

Praetors appointed (p. 80) * 366 



925 



SUMMARY. 



Regal Period, 

B.C. 753-509. 



Wars of the 

Early 

Republic. 



The External History. 

The Romans carried on an incessant warfare with the 
neighboring tribes — the Sabines, iEquians, Volscians, 
Rutulians. Before the close of the regal period Rome 
had acquired the leadership in Latium, but after the 
expulsion of the king, one tribe after another broke 
away from their alliance or subjection to Rome (as the 
neighboring tribes had made their treaties with the king, 
they regarded themselves as released when the king 
was expelled), and she lost most of her territory and 
was reduced to her original limits. The annalists, how- 
ever, made these wars originate in the efforts of Tarquin 
to recover the throne — first the Etruscans ofVeji and 
Tarquinii aided him, then Lars Porsenna of Clusium, 
and finally, the thirty Latin cities under the lead of 
Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum. For the next two 
hundred years Rome was engaged in recovering what 
she had lost : in most of these wars she managed to 
obtain the assistance of some other tribes — as the Latins 
and Hernicans, with whom Spurius Cassius formed a 
league in B. c, 493. 

The most important of these wars was that (1) with 
the Vejentines (in which the Fabian house was destroyed) 
until the capture of Veji by Camillus in B. c. 396 ; 
(2) the Volscian war in which Coriolanus was the most 
distinguished figure ; (3) and the frequent wars with the 
^Equians, celebrated for the legend of Cincinnatus. 
Rome w r as interrupted in this career of conquest by the 
invasion of the Gauls ; they entered Italy on a plunder- 
ing expedition, defeated the Roman army on the river 
Allia, captured and plundered Rome. 

After the retreat of the Gauls, Rome soon recovered 
her position in Latium. The Tuscans who had assailed 
Veji were punished, and all of Southern Etruria as far 
as the Ciminian hills became subject to Rome, and four 
new tribes were formed from the territory -, the fortresses 
of Sutrium (B.C. 383) and Nepete (B.C. 380) were estab- 
lished and the whole district became rapidly Romanized. 
The land of the Volscians and the JEquians was sub- 
jugated, and the inhabitants overawed, and Roman law 
and influence extended by a series of Roman fortresses. 
The most important of these (the so-called Latin colonies, 
i. <?., colonies with Latin rights) were Velitrse (b. c. 494), 
Cora' and Norba (b. c. 490), Signia, Suessa Pometia 
(b. c. 442) ; Circeji had the full franchise (b. c. 393). The 
whole Volscian district (the Pomptine Marshes) was 
distributed in small lots (2 jugera) to the plebeian sol- 
diers. Rome had now advanced as far as the Liris. Here 
she came in contact with the Samnites, the only nation 
in Italy powerful enough to contest with her for the 
mastery of Italy. 



League with 

the Latins and 

Hernicans, 

B. C. 493. 

Fabian House. 

Coriolanus and 
the iEquians, 

B.C. 488. 

Cincinnatus 

and 
the ^Squians, 

B.C. 458. 

Rome Captured 
toy tlie Gauls, 

B.C. 39O. 

Southern 

JEtruria Subject 

to Rome. 



Colonies 
Founded. 



The District as 
far as the Li- 
ris Subject to 

Rome, 



THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 



CHAPTER XAT. 



The First Samnite War (b. c. 343-341). — The Eevolt 
of the Latin League (b. c. 340-338). 

1. After the retreat of the Gauls,* Rome soon recovered her 
former position in Latium. The Latin towns l which had ac- 
quired a partial independence were subdued and compelled to 
submit. The JEquians and Volscians were driven back, and 
the Romans soon extended their dominion to the Liris. Here 
they first came in contact with the Samnites, who were then at 
the height of their power. 

2. The Samnites, the principal branch of the Sabellian 
race, inhabited the lofty ridges of the Apennines. From there 
in successive migrations they overran the plains at their feet. 
The chief towns of Campania, 2 even including Capua and 
Cumse, fell into their hands. As no political tie bound them 
to their own country, they soon broke off all intercourse with 
the rude mountaineers of the Apennines. In the beautiful 
plains of Campania, surrounded by the comforts and luxuries 
of a refined life, they lost their old simplicity and bravery, 3 and 
finally so far forgot that they descended from the Samnites 
of the mountains that the two races were sometimes engaged 
in hostilities with each other. It was a contest of this kind 
that gave the Romans the pretext to cross the Liris, and led to 
the war with the Samnites of the Apennines. 

1 Such as Praeneste and Tibur. 2 See colored map, No. 1. 

3 Their migrations were connected with the legendary custom of the ver sacrum or 
sacred spring. In bad years the Sabellians vowed to Mars (Mamers) the tenth of all that 
was born in the course of one spring. This custom is also found among the Romans.— 
Livy, xxii. 10. The migrations to Campania took place in the regal period ; those to the 
plains of Latium earlier. See p. 12. * See p. 77. 



94 



THE FIRST SAM1STITE WAR. 




This list of the Latin cities is taken from Dioysius (v. 61). Schwegler (Rom. Gesh. 
ii. 322) thinks with Niebuhr that he obtained the list from the treaty of b. c. 493 (see p. 
62) ; others as Mommsen (1. c. p. 382) ; and Kme (Rom. Forsch. p. 53) think that it was 
made up from a list of those places that was afterwards regarded as members of the 
Latin confederacy, or by some annalist from various sources. That the revolt had noth- 
ing to do with the restoration of Tarquinius is tolerably certain ; see p. 49. 



B. C. 340.] THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 95 



3. The Cause of the War.— It happened that another 
Samnite migration issued from the mountains to the plains of 
Campania and threatened Teanum, the city of Sidicini. Being 
unable to withstand the attack of the Samnites, the Sidicini ap- 
plied to the Campanians for assistance. This was readily granted, 
but even then the Samnites were victorious, and having occupied 
Mt. Tifata, from which they issued as their stronghold, they 
defeated the Campanians as often as they appeared in the field. 1 
The latter, in their distress, turned to the Romans for assist- 
ance. The Romans had a few years before . formed a treaty 
with the Samnites (b. c. 354), and therefore had no excuse for 
meddling in their affairs. This, however, was of little conse- 
quence to Rome when she had an opportunity to extend her 
territory. "War was declared and the Romans seemed in a fair 
way to gain possession of Campania, when an insurrection 2 in 
their own army and the threatening attitude of the Latins 
compelled them to pause 3 and form a hasty treaty with the 
Samnites. 

4. The Great Latin War 4 (b.c. 340-338).— During the 
regal period Rome attained her position as head of the Latin 
league. Thus far the Latins had fought on the side of Rome, 
and helped secure the victory. The conquered territory, how- 
ever, was not incorporated with the Latin league but with the 
Roman state. 5 The manner in which Rome had subdued the 

1 It is not probable that the Capuans, as Livy relates, offered to place Capua in the 
hands of the Eomans, because it remained after the war an independent town. 

2 See page 82. 

3 Little is known of the details of this war, and still less of the terms of peace. The 
account of the war by Livy (vii. 29 if.) is filled with descriptions of bloody battles and 
hand-to-hand conflicts, and all kinds of improbabilities. 

4 Livy (viii. 8 if.) relates as a cause of the war that the Latins sent two praetors, who 
were their chief magistrates, to Rome to demand a share in the government — that one of 
the consuls and half of the senate should be Latins. The request excited great indigna- 
tion at Rome. The senate met in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. In the discussion 
which followed, the Latin praetor scorned the power of Jupiter Capitolinus ; then an 
awful peal of thunder shook the temple, and as the praetor was leaving the temple he fell 
down the steps and died. 

5 The threatened revolt of the league in b.c. 384 caused the Romans to prevent any 
more cities from joining the league. Hitherto every city founded by Rome and Latium 
had enjoyed this right, but according to Latin usage the number of cities having the right 
to vote could never exceed thirty ; the others were without this right. In this way it 
happened that thirty cities had the right to vote, but seventeen others had the privilege 
of participating in the Latin festival without the right of voting. The communities 
founded later, as Sutrium, Gales, &c, were not allowed to vote. This fixed the limits of 
Latium. So long as the Latin confederacy had continued open, the bounds of Latium 
advanced with the founding of new cities. The later colonies not being entitled to vote 
in the league, were not regarded as belonging to Latium. 



96 THE FIRST SAM^ITE WAR. [B. C. 338. 

Latin towns after the Gallic invasion had filled the Latins with 
discontent. The frequent acts of injustice on the part of Eome 
increased, from year to year, this discontent. The revolt of the 
league might be expected at no distant day. The war with the 
Samnites w r as in progress. Eome seemed it a favorable way to 
acquire new territory. This she had no intention of sharing 
with her allies. Then the ferment broke out into open insur- 
rection. 1 

The peoples, too, south of the Liris, had discovered the in- 
tention of Eome, and were prepared to fight for their inde- 
pendence. 

5. The Battle of Mt. Vesuvius. — The danger w r as great. 
The Latins alone were equal to the Eomans in courage and 
military experience. Against such a combination the Eomans 
looked about for aid, and even formed an alliance with their 
old enemies, the Samnites. The Eoman army, joined by the 
Samnites, entered Campania by a circuitous march through 
Samnium. The battle was fought near the foot of Mt. Vesu- 
vius. 2 The Eomans and Samnites were victorious. The Latins 
could no longer keep the field, but shut up in their fortified 
towns, they protracted the contest for nearly two years. Town 
after town, however, fell into the hands of the Eomans, and 
finally, on the capture of Antium (b. c. 338), the Latins laid 
down their arms. The Latin confederacy was dissolved, and all 



1 Every Latin town except Lauren turn joined the insurrection. 

2 It was in this war that the annalists told the story that the consul, T. Manlius Tor- 
quatus, ordered his own son to be beheaded for engaging in single combat with Mettius, 
the leader of the Tusculan cavalry, contrary to the orders of his father. It is also re- 
lated that the battle was fierce and long undecided. The two consuls, who had been 
warned by a dream that victory should be with the army whose general would devote 
himself to death, had agreed that he whose legions first wavered in the battle should 
sacrifice his life for his country. At length on the wing where the plebeian consul 
Decius Mus commanded, the Romans' line fell in disorder. The moment had come, and 
the consul, calling the pontiff, veiled his head with his gown, and repeated after the 
priest the sacred prayer : " O Janus, Jupiter, father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, ye Lares, 
ye gods Novensiles, ye gods Indigetes, ye divinities under whose power we and our ene- 
mies are, and ye spirits of the departed dead, to ye I pray, ye I worship. I ask your 
favor, that ye will grant strength and victory to the Roman people, the Quirites ; and 
that ye may strike the enemies of the Roman people with terror, dismay, and death. As 
I have pronounced in words, so do I now, in behalf of the commonwealth of the Roman 
people, the Quirites, of the army, of the legions, of the allies of the Roman people, so do 
I devote, with myself, the legions and allies of the enemy to the spirits of the departed, 
and to the earth.' 1 When he had uttered this prayer and ordered the lictors to announce 
to his colleagues that he had devoted himself for the army, he girded himself with his 
toga, and, rally armed, plunged into the thickest of the battle, to seek death for himself 
and victory for the army. 



B.C. 326-304. J THE SECOND SAMKITE WAR. 97 

general assemblies were forbidden. Rome henceforth was the 
common centre. Here the Latins could settle, buy and sell, 
and marry; but all intercourse and intermarriage between the 
the different Latin cities were prohibited. Large tracts of 
their land were incorporated with the Roman state, and two 
new tribes * were formed. 1 



chapter xtv1. 
The Second Samnite War (b. c. 326-304). 

1. The Policy of Rome. — Rome busied herself in secur- 
ing the territory she had conquered by planting colonies along 
the frontier. Cales was conquered and a Roman colony estab- 
lished there (b. c. 334). A colony was planted at Fragellae 
(b. c. 328), the most important locality on the Liris. With un- 
deviating energy Rome pursued her policy, until her territory 
reached even to the Samnite border. A contest between the 
two nations was inevitable. 

2. The Cause of the War. — The city of Palaeopolis was 
the ioteiediate cause of the war. The senate complained that the 
Palaeopolitans had committed outrages upon Roman citizens 
settled in the vicinity of CumaG. In Palaeopolis, as everywhere in 
Italy, there was an aristocratic and democratic party ; one party 
was favorable to the Romans, the other sought aid from the 
Samnites, who at once dispatched a strong garrison to the city. 
When this force entered Palaeopolis the war was really begun, not 
between Palaeopolis and Rome, but between the two great rival 
nations. The Romans without hesitation resolved on war and sent 
Q. Publilius Philo, the same who had carried the important laws 



z Tibur and Prseneste renewed their old alliance with Rome on a footing of equality 
The citizens of the orher towns did not have the franchise, they received the right of in- 
termarriage with the Romans (connvMum), and the right to buy and sell in Rome (com- 
merciwri); the towns were called mvnicipia (bound to services) ; they were subject to the 
jurisdiction of the Roman prajtor, who appointed a prefect (prcafectus juri dicundo) to 
exercise the jurisdiction. * Making 29, ' 



98 



THE SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 



[B. C. 326. 



which bore his name, into Campania with an army. As he 
was not able to reduce the city before his year of office expired, 
the senate prolonged his command under the title of proconsul. 
In the following year the city submitted, although the garrison 
still held out, and the Eomans succeeded in winning over the 
other Greek cities by grantiug them favorable terms of peace. 

3. Declaration of War. — In the mean time the Samnites 
were called upon in regular form to withdraw their garrison 
from Palaeopolis. This they refused to do, and the Eoman 
fetialis declared war in due form. 1 During the first five years 




of the war the Roman arms were generally successful, itome 
placed three armies in the field, one continued the siege of the 
garrison in Palaeopolis and the other two invaded Samnium, 
fighting and pillaging as far as Apulia. Once more discontent 
broke out among the Latins. A truce was concluded with the 
Samnites. Two Latin towns 2 revolted and the rebellion threat- 
ened to spread, but Rome, by wise concessions, appeased the 
discontent. The next year the Samnites sued for peace. The 
Romans would hear of nothing but submission ; so the war was 
renewed. 

4. The Caudine Pass. — In b. c. 321 the two consuls, 
Veturius and Postumius, advanced from Campania with the 



1 See page 41. 



2 Privernum and Volitrse. 



B. C. 321.] THE SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 99 

purpose of relieving Luceria, which, it was reported, the enemy 
had besieged. Their route led 1 through the defiles of the 
mountains near Caudium into the enemy's territory. The 
army entered the pass, the celebrated Caudine Forks, 2 but 
found to their surprise that the Samnites awaited them here 
and not at Luceria. The Konians attempted to force their 
way, but in vain ; meanwhile the enemy had taken possession 
of the pass by which the Romans entered, and nothing remained 
but to capitulate. A treaty was signed by which the Roman con- 
suls and all the superior officers bound themselves by a solemn 
oath to give up all conquests and colonies in the territory of 
Samnium. Then the brave Samnite general, Gavius Pontius, 
set the Roman army free, after each soldier had given up his 
arms and passed under the yoke. 3 When the news reached 
Rome the senate very naturally * refused to ratify the treaty. 
Pontius demanded that either the terms of the treaty should be 
carried out or the Roman army should be returned to the Cau- 
dine Forks. 4 

5. War with the Etruscans. — The war was renewed 
and the experienced Papirius Cursor was placed at the head of 
the army. The army entered Samnium and appeared before 
the walls of- Luceria. The town surrendered, and on account 
of the importance of its position was strongly garrisoned. The 
Samnites now looked about for allies. The Etruscans, whose 
forty years truce with Rome had expired, came to their assist- 
ance, and, in order to create a diversion, attacked the fortress 
of Sutrium. Fabius Maximus Rullianus boldly entered the 
country through the Ciminian forest and defeated the Etrus- 
cans at the Vadimonian lake (b. c. 310). 

1 Between the present Arpaja and Montesarchio. a Furculce Caudince. 

3 That is, subjugum ; hence the English word subjugate ; see p. 66, note. 

4 Livy (ix. 8 if.) relates that when the question of the ratification of this treaty came 
before the senate, Postumius declared at once that it ought not to be kept, but that 
he himself and his colleague, with the other officers, ought to be delivered to the enemy, 
because they had promised what they could not perforin. This proposal the senate ac- 
cepted, and all the officers who had bound themselves to the Samnites were delivered to 
them. No sooner was the surrender made than Postumius struck the Roman fetialis who 
had conducted him and cried out: "I am now a Samnite citizen, and as I have done 
violence to the sacred envoy of the Roman people ye will rightfully, Romans, wage war 
with us to avenge this outrage." Pontius refused to accepfPostumius and his compan- 
ions, and they returned unhurt to their own army ; see Ihne, vol. i., p. 397 n°.; Arnold. 
p. 396 and note 52, * See p. 89, § 7. 



100 THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR. [B. C. 304. 

6. The Samnites subdued. — In the south the Samnite 
army was repeatedly defeated. Finally, after the capture of 
their capital, Bovianum, they were compelled to sue for peace. 
They were obliged to give up their conquests beyond Sam- 
nium. They formed, on an equal footing with Koine, an 
alliance which secured them their independence. 1 

7. The Results of the War were great. Four new tribes 
were formed, 2 eight colonies were planted, and the large num- 
ber of citizens who settled in Campania spread Roman influence 
throughout Central and Southern Italy. The country to the 
north, between Samnium and Etruria, was secured by fortresses, 
while Samnium on the east and west was hemmed in by a 
whole line of fortifications. Borne was unmistakably the first 
power in Italy. 



CHAPTER X^II. 



The Third Samnite War (b. c. 298-290). — Success in 
Etruria and Southern Italy. 

1. Cause of the War. — In the last war the Lucanians 
had sided with Rome. The garrisons which the Samnites had 
to keep in Lucania had been a serious drawback to their suc- 
cess. They therefore determined -to seize the first opportunity 
to supplant the influence of Rome in that country. It hap- 
pened that in internal dissensions among the Lucanians one 
party applied to Rome for assistance, the other to the Samnites. 
The Samnites immediately dispatched an army into Lucania 
in order to bring their party to the head of the government. 
Rome renewed her alliance with the Lucanians and ordered the 
Samnites to desist. This they refused to do. Rome imme- 



1 Livy, ix. 45. Foedus antiquum SamaUibus redclUum* 

2 Making thirty-one in &U, 



B. C. 298-290.] THE THIKD SAMKITE WAE. 



101 



diately declared war. Since the year b. c. 301 the Romans had 
been at war with the Etruscans, who just at this time entered 
into negotiations for peace. This enabled the Eomans to send 
both armies into Samnium. The Samnites were defeated and 
Eoman influence re-established in Lucania. 

2. War with the Etruscans.— In order to induce the 
Etruscans to continue the war, the Samnite general, Gellius 
Egnatius, promised to render them assistance in their own 
country. The Samnites placed three armies in the field, one 
to protect Samnium, one to invade Campania, and the other 
Egnatius himself led through the Marsian and Umbrian terri- 
tories to help his allies in Etruria. The Eomans saw their 
efforts to sever northern and southern Italy frustrated. Nearly 
all Etruria 1 was in arms, and an invasion of the Gauls, whom 
the Etruscans had taken into their pay, was threatened. The 
Eomans made great efforts and placed larger armies in the 
field than ever before, with the two most eminent generals at 
their head, the aged Q. Fabius Maximus Eullianus and Pub- 
lius Decius Mus. They met the enemy at Sentinum, near 



1 The first year of the Samnite war is of great interest, because the epitaph of L. Cor- 
nelius Scipio Barbatus, who was consul b. c. 298, has been preserved. It is probably 
the oldest document that has come down to us in the original. It was found at 
Rome in 1780 (see Hist, of Literature, p ). Accordiug to Livy (x. 12) Scipio fought 




cnr<N't'L;vv L\r;\^\C'^o^^."m-CNMvr,u-FATRE 

?R0CNVrVS rO^-VI? vv-:r'; c iV,i:-cv./0iVS-fOflMAVISTVT£l-PARISV/M 

kvit-ccnsol ci ; MF.ciVM3ii is-uva-FviT ,\rvn-vns - T >vha jia-CiIAVNA 

SAWMIOCLP/T-SVSIt.T-DMMMOVCAN'AOP^JCESl'VL-ASDOVCIT 



Sarcophagus of Scipio. 

in Etruria ; he makes no mention of the towns of Taurasia and Cisauna which Scipio is 
said to have taken, nor of a defeat of the Lucanians. Ritschl (Rhein. Museum, 1854, p. 
1 ff.) thinks that the epitaph was not composed immediately after ScipkVs death ; is in 
fact not older than the first Punic war. Ihne (1. c. vol. i., p. 46) thinks that the whole 
Etruscan campaign was a fiction, that the Samnite army was sent to Etruria to join the 
Gauls in a war against Rome. Against this coalition A. Claudius was sent in S, c, 296, 
but the campaign was unsuccessful, and the danger became so serious that in b. e. 2$| 
Hullianus and Decius were dispatched with two consular armies of fou.r legions, 



102 THE THIRD SAMKITE WAR. [b. C. 290. 

the pass where the Via Flaminia afterwards crossed the moun- 
tains. The battle was long undecided until the consul, Decius 
Mus, like his father in the battle near Mt. Vesuvius, devoted 
himself and the hostile army to the infernal gods. The victory 
was complete, the coalition was broken; the Gauls dispersed, 
and all Umbria submitted. 

3. Exhaustion of the Samnites.— The Samnites re- 
treated, to continue the war in their own country. There 
with the courage of despair they fought and even defeated the 
consul. Fabius Maximus Gurges, the son of Eullianus. The 
aged Eullianus consented once more to take the field, as legate, 
under his son. Then the Samnites were defeated, and their 
general, the brave Gavius Pontius, who had defeated the Ro- 
mans at Caudium, fell into their hands and was killed in 
prison. 1 Still the spirit of the Samnites was not broken. In 
their mountains they protracted the struggle until both parties 
were weary of war. They concluded an honorable peace which 
secured them independence and the entire possession of Sam- 
nium, though they were compelled to give up their foreign 
conquests. 

4. Colonies Established.— Eome now bent all her ener- 
gies to secure the territory she had gained. The Oampanian 
coast was strengthened by two fortresses, Minturnae and 
Sinuessa, and the colony of Venusia was planted on the bor- 
ders of Samnium, Apulia and Lucania to command the south.- 
About this time the Sabines were finally conquered and became 
subjects of Eome. 2 The fortress of Hatria was established on 
the Adriatic to secure the territory there. 3 

5. "War with the Gauls and Etruscans.— After the 
conquest of the Samnites the only peoples left unsubdued were 
the Lucanians and Greeks of the south. Ten years elapsed 

1 The following description of the consul's triumph is from Dr. Arnold's History of 
Rome, ii., p. 365.— While he was borne along in his chariot, according to custom, his otd 
father rode on horseback behind him as one of his lieutenants, delighting himself with 
the honors of his son. But at the moment when the consul and his father, having ar- 
rived at the end of the Sacred Way, turned to the left to ascend the hill of the capitol, 
G. Pontius, the Samnite general, who, with the other prisoners of rank, had thus far 
followed the procession, was led aside to the right hand to the prison beneath the Capi- 
toline hill, and was there thrust down into the underground dungeon of the prison and 
yvx- beheaded. 

'* Vives sine syflrygio, 3 See colored map No, 1. 



B. C. 283.] THE GREEK SETTLEMENTS. 103 

between the close of the third Samnite war and the commence- 
ment of the next great struggle in which Rome was engaged. 
In the meantime the Senonian and Bojan Gauls were defeated 
at the Vadimonian Lake (b. c. 283) and the fortress of Sena 
Gallica (Senegaglia) was established. In Etruria the fortune of 
war was tried again, but Volsinii was taken and destroyed, 
Falerii subjugated and the Etruscan power completely crushed. 
6. War with the Lucanians. — In the third Samnite 
war the Lucanians had rendered Eome important aid. They 
no doubt thought that Rome in return for this would look 
quietly on while they plundered the Greek cities. They had 
already laid siege to Thurii, which being hard pressed applied 
to Rome for assistance. The Romans did not hesitate to es- 
pouse the cause of the Thurinians and declare war against the 
Lucanians. The latter, however, effected a union of the 
Samnites and Bruttians, 1 but Gajus Fabricius defeated their 
united army, relieved Thurii, received the submission of most 
of the Greek towns 2 except Tarentum, and after having gar- 
risoned them, returned to Rome laden with spoils (b. c. 282). 
Tarentum was now the sole obstacle to Rome's entire mastery 
of Italy. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Greek Settlements. — The War with Pyrrhus. 

1. The Condition of the Italian Greeks.— In early 
times the Greeks had founded colonies on the coasts of Sicily, 
Spain and France, and particularly in southern Italy where the 
Greek cities were so numerous and powerful that the country 
was called Grcecia Magna. Many of these cities, such as Agri- 

1 According to Mommsen the Lucanians effected a union of not only the Bruttians 
and Samnites hut also of the Etruscans, Umhrians and Gauls, and this led to the battle 
of the Vadimonian Lake. Deprived of the narrative of Livy for this period (the narrative, 
ends b. c. 292) the succession of events is exceedingly doubtful, 

a Locri, Rhegiuro, and Croton were garrisoned. 



104 



THE GREEK SETTLEMENTS. [B. C. 280-272. 



gentum, Syracuse, Croton, Sybaris and Tarentum attained 
great prosperity, and extended their power from the coast in- 
land and ruled over the native races. The Greek cities, how- 
ever, in Italy had very much declined in power and prosperity 
owing to civil dissensions, jealousies, and hostilities with each 
other. At the time when Rome came in contact with those 
cities Tarentum was by far the most powerful. 

2. War with Tarentum (b. c. 280-272). — Favorably 

situated on a splendid harbor, 
Tarentum grew rich by com- 
merce and industry. 1 Una- 
ble to defend their indepen- 
dence against the Lucanians, 
the Tarentines had summoned 
Archidamus, the Spartan king* 
to help them. In the interval 
between the first and second 
Samnite wars Alexander of 



TARENTUM 




Epirus had been invited to assist them against the Lucanians 
and Samnites. In the second Samnite war Tarentum left the 
Samnites to struggle single-handed against the Eomans. After 
the battle of Caudium the Tarentines summoned both parties 
to lay down their arms ; the Romans replied by an immediate 
declaration of war. Even then the Tarentines took no decisive 
step. At the close of the war the Tarentines and Romans con- 
cluded a peace, 2 the terms of which were that the Romans 
should not sail beyond the Lacinian promontory. 

This was the condition of affairs when Thurii fell into the 
hands of the Romans, and a fleet of ten vessels was sent to 
protect Thurii and at the same time to watch the Tarentines. 
When the fleet appeared off Tarentum in open violation of the 
treaty, the Tarentines quickly manned their ships, sailed out, 
attacked the Romans, and gained an easy victory. 3 After this, 



1 The Tarentine dyed stuffs. 

2 Probably about b. c. 304 ; according to Niebuhr. b. c. 301. 

Mommsen and Niebuhr condemn the attack of the Tarentines. Ihne thinks that 

with 



there was a Roman party in Tarentum which had formed connection 
to deliver the city to them. 



:th the Romans 



B. C. 280.] THE GEEEK SETTLEMENTS. 105 

Thurii was attacked, the Eoman garrison expelled, and the 
town plundered. 

3. The Arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy. — War was de- 
clared, 1 and the Tarentines, accustomed to lean on Greece for 
support, invited Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to conduct the war 
against their enemies. Pyrrhus eagerly seized the opportunity, 
and in the winter of b. c. 280 landed 2 at Tarentum, and took 
the reins of the government into his own hands. The Taren- 
tines w r ere effeminate, and cared little for war. They soon 
found, how r ever, that they had a master. The clubs and thea- 
tres were closed, and the young men were pressed into military 
service. 

4. The Battle near Heraclea (b. c. 280). — The Roman 
army under the command of Valerius Lsevinus soon appeared 
and commenced hostilities. The tw T o armies met at Heraclea. 3 
Seven times the Eomans attempted to break through the 
Grecian phalanx ; then Pyrrhus brought forward his cavalry 
and his elephants against the exhausted Eomans. This decided 
the contest ; the Romans fled, and their camp fell into the hands 
of the enemy. This silenced discontent in Tarentum, and all 
southern Italy rose against Rome. The victory was great, but 
it had been dearly purchased. Nearly four thousand of Pyr- 
rhus's best soldiers strewed the field of battle. This battle 
taught the king the difficulty of the task he had undertaken, 
for he knew well that the contest was only decided by the sur- 
prise produced by the attack of the elephants. Before the 
battle, when he saw the Romans forming in line as they crossed 

1 It is related that before declaring war, the senate sent an embassy to Tarentum to 
complain of the attack on the fleet and demand satisfaction. L. Postumius, who was at 
the head of the embassy, was beset by the rabble. His purple-bordered toga was jeered 
at, and when he began to address the people in Greek, his mistakes and accent were 
laughed at. He still continued stating his demands — release of the captives, the restora- 
tion of Thurii, and the surrender of the authors of the outrages— when a drunken buf- 
foon bespattered his white toga with dirt. The whole assembly applauded, but Postu- 
mius, holding up his sullied toga, said : " Laugh while ye may, but this robe shall be 
washed in torrents of your blood.'" Valerius Maximus (ji. 2, 5) makes the insult to Pos- 
tumius take place before the assembly is called ; Dionysius (xviii. 7) after, Livy (epit. 
xii.) says the ambassadors were beaten by the Tarentines. 

2 With an army of 21,000 heavy-armed soldiers, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, and 3,000 
horsemen. 

3 For the first time on the field of Heraclea the Roman legion and Grecian phalanx 
were brought in collision. The order of the Roman army until the time of Camillus was 
similar to the phalanx. The legion was now drawn up in three lines, called the hastati, 
principes, and tri/Grii; the last line was triple (iriarii, proper, romrii, and acce?isi), so 
that there were really five lines, see p. 368. 



103 THE GREEK SETTLEMENTS. [b. C. 280. 

the river, he said : " In war at least these are not barbarians." 
Afterwards, when he saw the Eoman soldiers lying upon the 
field with the wounds all in front, he exclaimed : " If these 
were my soldiers, or if I were their general, we should conquer 
the world ! " In view of the fact that his veteran soldiers 
were more difficult to be replaced than the Koman militia, 
and that the surprise produced by the attack of the elephants 
could not be often repeated, it may be that the king described 
his victory as a defeat, or as the Eoman poets afterwards ex- 
pressed it : "Another such victory and I must return to Epi- 
rus alone." 

5. Embassy of Cineas to Rome. — Pyrrhus resolved, 
therefore, to avail himself of the impression produced by this 
victory to make overtures of peace to the Komans. He sent 
his minister Cineas to Eome, with the proposal that the .Ro- 
mans should recognize the independence of the Greek cities. 1 
Cineas, whose eloquence is said to have won more cities for 
Pyrrhus than his arms, left no means untried to induce the 
Eomans to accept the terms. When the question came up for 
debate, and the decision of the senate seemed doubtful, the 
aged Appius Claudius 2 appeared once more in the senate and 
denounced the idea of peace with a victorious foe with such 
effect, that the overtures of the king were rejected, and Cineas 
was warned to leave Eome. When Pyrrhus, who- had been 
waiting in Campania, heard this, he immediately advanced 
toward Eome, hoping to secure the aid of the Etruscans, to 
shake the adhesion of the allies of Eome, and to threaten the 
city itself. He nowhere met with a friendly reception. The 
Eomans placed new legions in the field, and Pyrrhus fell back 
loaded with spoils and captives to Tarentum. 

6. The Battle of Asculum (b. c. 279).— Both sides made 
preparations for the next campaign. Pyrrhus had not yet 
given up all hope of concluding peace, and when Eome sent 
an embassy to treat for an exchange of prisoners he determined 

1 And according to Plutarch (Pyrrhus, 18) he would help them subdue Italy. 

2 Sumamed Caecus ; a descendant of Appius Claudius, the decemvir. The story of 
his blindness originated probably from his surname, See Mommsen Rom. Forsch, 
p. 301 ? or \. c ? vol, 1, appendix, 



B. C. 274.] THE GREEK SETTLEMENTS. 107 

to renew his proposals. His negotiations with G. Fabricius, 
the head of the embassy, furnished the annalists with material 
to eulogize their own countrymen. Fabricius was poor and 
was proud of his poverty. His integrity was incorruptible, and 
he rejected the large sums of money offered by the king. At 
last Pyrrhus attempted to work upon his fears by concealing an 
elephant behind a curtain, and then causing the curtain to be 
withdrawn so that Fabricius was directly under the monster's 
trunk. Fabricius remained unmoved, and only smiled when 
the elephant roared. The object of the embassy failed. 1 The 
king refused to exchange the prisoners. The next spring hos- 
tilities were renewed. In the battle at Asculum (Ascoli di Pu- 
glia) in Apulia, the Romans w^ere again defeated. 

7. The Alliance of Rome "with Carthage. — An event 
now occurred which induced Pyrrhus to conclude a hasty 
peace with the Romans and retire from Italy. The Romans 
concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Carthage. 2 
The object of this was to oppose the plans of Pyrrhus both in 
Italy and Sicily. Carthage had already subdued the western 
part of Sicily, and now an opportunity was offered for her to 
get possession of the whole island. After the death of Agath- 
ocles, the power of Syracuse rapidly declined. The Cartha- 
ginians made rapid progress in the island. Agrigentum was 
taken and Syracuse threatened. At this juncture the Syracu- 
sans applied to Pyrrhus for aid. Hence his desire to bring the 
war in Italy to a conclusion in order to help Syracuse before it 
was too late, and hence the interest of the Carthaginians to de- 
tain him in Italy that they might complete the conquest of Sicily. 
Leaving Milo with a garrison in Tarentum, Pyrrhus sailed for 
Sicily. Syra3use was relieved, the Greek cities united under 
his leadership, and the Carthaginians were almost entirely 
driven from the island. The arbitrary rule of Pyrrhus soon 

1 According to Appian (iii. 10, 5), the king allowed all the prisoners to go to Rome to 
celebrate the feast of the Saturnalia on condition that they should return if the senate 
would not accept the terms of peace already offered. The senate remained firm and 
threatened with death any who should break their oath ; according to Justin (xviii. 1), he 
released only 203, while Livy makes him release all the prisoners without ransom. 

a This was about b. c. 279. A commercial treaty had been concluded with Carthage, 
according to Polybius, in the first year of the republic (b. c. 509). According to Momm 
sen (Rom, Chronol., p. 272 If.), Polybius dates this treaty 161 years too early. See p. 117. 



108 boman supremacy in italy. [b. c. 266. 

caused discontent to break out among the Greeks, and the sit- 
uation of affairs in Italy demanded his presence. 

8. The Battle of Beneventum (b. c. 274). — In the autumn 
of B. c. 276 Pyrrhus set sail from the port of Syracuse, and 
appeared again in Tarentum. His troops were almost the same 
in number as when he first landed in Italy, but their quality 
was far different. His best officers had fallen in battle. The 
Eomans prepared for the campaign. One consular army under 
Cornelius Lentulus entered Lucania, and the other under 
Manius Curius, Samnium. The king fell in with the army of 
Curius at Beneventum and determined to engage it before the 
other army could come up. He stormed the Eoman position, 
but was completely repulsed. Curius now led his army into 
the plain, and gained a complete victory. The camp of Pyrrhus 
fell into his hands. The king was obliged to give up his idea 
of Italian conquest, and leaving Milo with a strong garrison 
in Tarentum, he sailed to Greece to engage in new adventures. 

9. Union of Italy (b. c. 266). — The departure of Pyrrhus 
virtually ended the war. Tarentum fell into the hands of the 
Eomans (b.c. 272). The guerrilla warfare of the Samnites soon 
ended and every people south of the rivers 1 Arnus and iEsis 
submitted to the power of Eome. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Eoman Supremacy in Italy — Classes of Roman Citi- 
zens — The System of Colonization — Military Roads. 

1. Roman Sovereignty. — Eome ruled leniently over the 
conquered states. They paid no tribute besides equipping and 
paying their army when Eome called for contingents. They 
still retained their own local laws and internal administration, 
when these did not conflict with those of Eome. The general 
management of the affairs of the allied states was centered in 

1 According to Mommsen (]. c. vol. ii., p. 547) it was Sulla who fixed the rivers Rubi- 
con and Macra as the northern boundary of Italy ; see p. 258, 



ROMAK SUPREMACY I^ ITALY. 109 

Home. Rome was the head and her magistrates collected the 
revenue, superintended the census, and apportioned the military 
service. 

2. Summary of Rome's Policy. — A brief summary of 
Rome's policy in dealing with conquered states will help us to 
understand the manner in which she governed the different 
peoples in central and southern Italy. In the regal period, it 
will be remembered that the state was governed by the patri- 
cians ; that when conquests were made the territory was an- 
nexed to the Roman state and the inhabitants were moved to 
Rome and the surrounding territory, and became subjects of 
the king, i.e., plebeians; that after the destruction of Alba 
Longa, Rome became the leading power in the Latin league. 
In the course of time the plebeians were admitted to equal social 
and political privileges with the patricians, and ceased to form a 
separate class. Roman supremacy had meanwhile been extended 
not only over Latium, but over all central and southern Italy. 

3. Classes of Roman Citizens. — The state, however, 
still consisted of three classes: Roman citizens, subjects, and 
allies. The first class, the members of thirty-three tribes, con- 
stituted the governing people. These were the citizens of Rome 
and of the country tribes into which the Roman territory 1 was 
now divided. The second class, or those 2 who possessed only 
the private rights 3 but not the public franchise, 4 consisted of 

1 The territory extending on the north nearly to Caere, on the east to the Apennines, 
and on the south to Formiae, though there were some towns even in Latium, Tibur and 
Praeneste which did not possess the full franchise. 

a Latini, or cives sine suffragio. 

3 Every Roman citizen possessed public (publico) and private (privata) rights (jura). 
The public rights were : (1) the right of voting, i.e., enacting and repealing of laws (leges 
scribere), declaring; war (bellum indicere), and concluding peace (pacem facere), (jus suf- 
fragii) ; (2) the right of holding public offices (jus honorum) ; (3) the right of appeal 
(jus provocatiords). The private rights were : (1) jus connubii, and (2) jus commercii. 

* The first city on which private rights were conferred was Caere, in consequence of 
its having received the vestal virgins at the time when Rome was taken by the Gauls. 
Although this was a great privilege for the Caerites, it was, of course, a degradation for 
the citizens with full rights (civis Optimo jure) to be placed on the same footing ; this 
was one of the modes in which the censors expressed their displeasure towards a citizen; 
his name was omitted from the roll of the tribe and he was deprived of the jus suffragii. 
Hence the phrase, in Cceritum tabulas referre aliquem, to deprive one of his right of 
voting. 

Any one in full enjoyment of all these rights was a civis optimo jure. These rights 
taken collectively were called jus civitatis or simply civitas, and might be acquired (1) by 
birth, (2) by gift. A child born of parents who could contract a regular marriage, i. e., 
both of whom had the jus connubii, was by birth a Roman citizen. When a marriage took 
place between parties who did not mutually possess the jus connubii, the children belonged 



110 ROMAK SUPREMACY II* ITALY. 



the towns in a part of Latium, 1 and some of the communities 
among the Hernicans, 2 ^Equians, 3 and Sabines. 4 These assumed 
the position in the state which the plebeians had formerly 
occupied. They were compelled to serve in the Eoman armies, 
and were subject to all the burdens of Koman citizens, although 
not admitted to full political rights. These communities, 5 were 
divided into two classes, one retaining more of local self-gov- 
ernment than the other. Roman law was introduced and ad- 
ministered by a prefect 6 sent from Rome. The third class, or 
the allies, 7 consisted of some old Latin towns, 8 such as Prseneste 
and Tibur, of three towns among the Hernicans, of the Latin 
colonies, and all the communities in central and southern Italy 
after their conquest. The Latin and Hernican towns retained 
their old privileges to a great extent, and their condition was 
so favorable that they were unwilling to change it for that of 
full Roman citizens. The condition of the allied communities 
in central and southern Italy was determined by special treaties. 
They enjoyed local self-government, but they were deprived of 
all political intercourse with other nations, and were bound to 
furnish ships of war and contingents for the army. 

4. Colonization. — For the purpose of securing the new 
conquests, colonies 9 were founded far and wide in Italy. In 
this way Roman manners and customs were spread over Italy, 

to the rank (status) of the inferior party. Foreigners might receive the civitas as a gift 
(dare civitatem). In early times this gift was very freely bestowed, and foreigners were 
admitted into the rank of the patricians (per co-optationem in patres); six years after the 
expulsion of the kings the whole gens Claudia was admitted. Later it became more val- 
uable, and was bestowed for faithful services, sometimes on individuals, sometimes on 
whole communities. Sometimes it was bestowed, as already mentioned, with a limita- 
tion, excluding the jus sufragii and jus honorum. 

1 After b.c. 338. 

2 After b.c. 306, of all but three cities, viz.: Aletrium, Ferentinum, and Yerulse, 
which had not taken a part in the war against Rome. 

3 After b. c. 304. * After b. c. 290. 5 3Iunlclpia— bound to services. 
6 Hence called prefectures (pratfecturai). Civitates foederataz. 

8 That is, Nomen Latinum; the way to full citizenship was opened to any of these 
by emigrating to Rome : if they left children in their native city or had held an office 
there, this privilege was not granted to the others. 

9 In the north, Ariminum, Firmum, and Castrum Novum were founded : in Sam- 
nium, Beneventum and iEsernia ; in Lucania, Pyestum (Posidonia) and Coser. The col- 
onies founded at Pyrgi, the seaport of Caere, Ostia, Antium (b.c. 338), Tarracina (b.c. 
329), Minturnse, and Sinuessa (b. c. 295), Sena Gallica, and Castrum Novum (b. c. 283), 
retained their full Roman citizenship, and had the right, probably, of managing their 
own local affairs. The others were Latin colonies, i. e., Latins who settled on the lands 
taken from the conquered population. They could acquire full citizenship, by emigrat- 
ing to Rome (see note 8), but after the founding of Ariminum (b. c. 268), this right was 
limited to those who had held office in their own city. 



B. c. 312.] 



KOMAN^ SUPREMACY IK ITALY. 



Ill 



and the local dialects began to give way to the Latin language 
when all the subjects looked to Eome as the common centre. 
The contact with the Greek cities made the Romans acquainted 
with the Greek language and literature, the influence of which 
was soon visible in their religion, customs, and literature. 

5. Military Roads. — Intimately connected with the colo- 
nial system was that of the military roads, 1 which in time were 
so extended that they intersected all parts of Italy and bound 
the outposts to Rome as the common centre. This great 
system was begun by Appius Claudius, who, after the conquest 
of Campania, constructed a paved road 2 to Capua, called from 
him the Appian Way (b. c. 312). This was soon extended to 
Brundisium by the way of Venusia and Tarentum. This project 
of Appius was carried out by others, each of whom gave his 
name to the work he had executed. The Flaminian Way 
(b. c. 220) was constructed to Ariminum by the way of Narnia 
and Fanum ; the ^3Emilian Way (b. c. 187) continued the line 
to Placentia by the way of Bononia, Mutina, and Parma ; while 
another of the same name (b. c. 187) extended the Cassian 
Way from Arretium to Bononia. The Valerian led through 
the country of the Sabines, iEquians and Marsians, and the 
Latin led through the valley of the Liris to iEsernia. All issu- 
ing from the capital they bound the different cities and colo- 
nies not only together but to Rome, and were the great high- 
ways by which intelligence was speedily carried and the Roman 
armies marched. 

6. The Aqueducts. — At about the same time (b. c. 313) 
Appius commenced the system of aqueducts which was to sup- 
ply the capital with pure water from the Sabine hills. 3 No 




The Pavement of the Via Appia, 
in its Present Condition. 



1 Vice militares. 

2 This road was excavated in 1350 ; so much of 
the work still remains that it even now deserves 
its ancient title of the " Queen of Eoads " (regi- 
na viarwn). The first ancient mile-stone (columna 
mittiaria) before the Porta Capena. of the time of 
Vespasian, found in 1584, is in the Piazza del Cam- 
pidoglio. 

3 Water had hitherto been obtained from the 
Tiber and from wells sunk in the city ; but it now 
began (on account of the increase in population) to 
be insufficient, and was also unwholesome. 






112 ROMAN" SUPREMACY IK ITALY. [b. C. 406. 

undertaking of the Komans presents more striking evidence 
of their energy, skill and untiring perseverance, than the 
military roads and aqueducts. The latter were constructed at 
an expense of a vast amount of toil and money, over hills, 
valleys and plains, sometimes in subterranean channels, 1 some- 
times on long ranges of lofty arches, 2 the remains of which, 
stretching for miles over the barren and desolate Campagna, 
present one of the most imposing and picturesque spectacles 
around modern Rome. The Appian aqueduct 3 started about 
eleven miles 4 from Eome, and was constructed under-ground 
except about three hundred feet at its termination. M\ 
Curius Dentatus commenced the Anio Vetus r ° in B. c. 272, 
and the expenses were defrayed from the spoils taken in the 
war against Pyrrhus. The water was conveyed in a winding 
channel under-ground, from above Tibur, for a distance of 
forty-three miles, until where it entered the city it was raised 
on arches. Two others 6 were constructed during the time of 
the republic, but the number was increased under the empire 
to nineteen. They were the most wonderful structures of 
ancient Eome and well might excite the admiration expressed 
by Pliny : 7 "If any one will carefully calculate the quantity of 
the public supply of water, for baths, reservoirs, houses, trenches, 
gardens, and suburban villas ; and, along the distance which 
it traverses, the arches built, the mountains perforated, the 



1 These were formed of stone or brick and were arched in order to keep the water 
free from impurities ; apertures (lumwa) (see p. 447) were made for ventilation. The 
channel descended with a. gradual slope and the bottom of it was coated with cement. 
When the aqueduct was carried through solid rocks the rock itself served as a channel. 
That the water might deposit the impurities with which it was contaminated large recep- 
tacles, or ponds, were made at convenient places for the water to enter ; in the city it 
was received into a reservoir and from thence conducted in lead or earthen pipes into 
smaller reservoirs in the different districts which it was to supply. 

2 It has sometimes been asserted that the Romans were unacquainted with the princi- 
ple that water finds its own level, because they built aqueducts instead of laying pipes. 
This has arisen from the assumption that the large pipes are better adapted to carry water 
than the aqueduct. The Romans did make use of pipes, but they perceived the advan- 
tage of the aqueduct over pipes. Although at first more expensive, yet when once con- 
structed they were permanent and durable. I&ur of the old Roman aqueducts are still 
in use. The large pipes are liable to get obstructed, or yield at the joints, and require 
constant attention and repairs, and are really in the long run more expensive. Engineers 
are now returning to the aqueduct. The New River in London and the Croton aqueducts 
in New York are constructed on the plan of the Roman aqueducts. 

3 Aqua Appia. * A Roman mile = 4850 ft. 

5 Remains of these are found at Tivoli and near the Porta Maggiore. 

6 The aqua Marcia, b. c. 144, and aqua Tepula, b. c. 125. 

7 Nat. Hist., xxxvi., 15. 



K0MAN" SUPREMACY IN" ITALY. 



113 



valleys leveled, he will confess that there never was anything 
more wonderful in the whole world." 

7. The Military System.— The new military system, 
introduced probably by Camillus, has already been mentioned. 1 
This necessitated a far longer military training than that of the 
old phalanx in which the solidity of the mass kept the inex- 
perienced in the ranks. This end was now attained by aban- 
doning the former mode of ranking the soldiers according 
to property, and arranging them according to length of ser- 
vice. The recruit entered first among the light-armed skir- 
mishers (rorarii) and advanced step by step to the first, then 
to the second line, and finally to the third, where all soldiers 
of long service and experience were associated in the corps of 
the triarii, 2 which imparted tone and vigor to the whole army. 

1 See page 105, n. 3. 2 See p. 369. 

* This grotto is cut through a promontory between Naples and Bajse ; the distance is 

about 2210 ; at either end there are arches to increase the firmness of the structure. 
In preparing to make a road, two trenches were 

first dug parallel to each other to mark the breadth 

of the road. The breadth in the great lines like 

the Via Appia was about 13 feet. The loose earth 

between these trenches was then removed and the 

excavation was continued until a solid foundation 

was reached ; sometimes in swampy land a basis 

was formed artificially. Above the foundation 

small stones were first laid ; then a mass of bro- 
ken stones about 9 inches thick, cemented with 

lime, and above this were fragments of bricks and 

pottery, about 9 inches in depth, also cemented. 
Above this, large polyg- 
onal blocks of the hard- 
est stone, fitted and 
joined with great nicety, 
were placed. The cen- 
tre of the road was a 
little elevated to permit 
the water to run off. 
Foot-paths were con- 
structed on either side. 

t The water channel 

was made of freestone or 

brick, and covered in the 

one case with slabs of 

The interior was 




Channel of an 
Aqueduct, t 
stone, in the other with vault, 
lined with a water-tight coating of cement made 
of chalk and fragments of bricks. 




The Via Appia.* 

(Passing through the grotto of 

Posilipo near Naples.) 



SUMMARY. 

Conquest of Italy — b. c. 384-266. 



The Revolt 

the 
Latin League 

B.C. 384. 



of 



Internal 
Condition. 



After the destruction of Rome by the Gauls in B. c. 
390, the Latins and Hernicans, who had hitherto been 
united in a league with the Romans, took the opportu- 
nity to declare the league dissolved. Rome, however, 
recovered with remarkable rapidity and succeeded in 
maintaining her position in Latium. The malcontents 
were subdued and the league restored under the leader- 
ship of Rome. After the conquest of the Volscians in 
B. c. 383 no people of importance opposed the advance 
of the Romans to the river Liris. 

As the internal condition of the state gradually im- 
proved l and political equality between the two orders 
was established, 2 Rome felt that she could safely con- 
tend with the peoples of Central Italy. Accordingly, 
when the Campanians offered to enter into an alliance 
with and to place their chief city in the hands of the Ro- 
mans, if the Romans would protect them against the 
Samnites who were making forays into their territory, 
the offer was too tempting to be rejected. Those 
Samnites who had descended from the mountains 
and settled in the plains of Campania became in 
the course of time detached from the parent stock, 
the Samnites of the mountains, and the two nations 
were sometimes engaged in hostilities with each other. 
The Samnites of the mountains made forays into the rich 
and highly civilized lowlands of Campania. To save 
themselves from these forays the Campanians offered to 
place themselves under the protection of Rome. To 
accept the offer was to double the territory of Rome ; to 
reject it was to strengthen the Samnites, who were al- 
ready the chief nation in Southern Italy. The offer was 
accepted, the Campanians were received into alliance, 
and the First Samnite War followed. A Roman army 
was sent to Campania, gained some successes, and pre- 
pared to winter there. The mutiny of the soldiers 3 and 
the threatened revolt of the Latins compelled the Ro- 
mans to make a hasty treaty. 

The land 4 that had been acquired in Campania, 
Rome had no intention of sharing with the Latins, al- 
though it had been won by their help. The spirit of 
the Latins began to rise. They demanded a share in 
the spoils of war and in the government of Rome. 

1 See p. 85. 2 See p. 81. 3 See p. 82. 

4 It is important to remember that Rome, when she conquered a state, succeeded to 
the rights of the previous government. As all of the Italian states possessed a public 
domain of some kind, Rome acquired, as her conquests advanced, large tracts of public 
land and various other kinds of property, such as mines, quarries, salt-works, etc. In 
addition to all this Rome required, at the close of the war, the surrender of a tract of 
arable or pasture land, which was added to the public domain {ager Eomanus). In this 
way the territory of Rome was always increasing. 



Peace Policy 

of Rome 
Abandoned. 



The Romans 
and Samnites. 



The First 

Samnite War, 

B.C. 343-34 1 - 



SUMMARY. 



115 



The Latin War, 
B.C. 340-338- 



Second 
Samnite War, 

B.C. 326-304. 



This was not an unjust demand. The iwo peoples had 
the same political, religious, and social institutions. 
Rome, however, rejected these demands, and war was 
declared. The Romans, aided by the Samnites, with 
whom they had just formed an alliance, defeated the 
Latins near Mt. Vesuvius. The Latin league was dis- 
solved, and the leadership of Rome in Latium was con- 
verted into a supremacy. Henceforth the Latin cities 1 
furnished soldiers and contributions, not according to a 
fixed rule, but according to the pleasure of Rome. 
From this duty of the subject towns arose the name 
" municipal," i. <?., bound to services. 

The Romans now had time to secure their conquests 
in Campania. Colonies were established at Cales 
(b. c. 334), and at Fregellae (b. c. 328) on land conquered 
by the Samnites — a direct challenge to the Samnites. 
This was followed by an attack on Palaeopolis, an inde- 
pendent Greek city, which had long been under the 
protection of the Samnites. It was alleged that the 
Palaeopolitans had maltreated Roman citizens settled 
near Cumae. The aristocratic party in Palaeopolis was 
favorable to Rome, but the popular party sought aid 
from the Samnites. The Samnites dispatched a strong 
garrison to the city, and Rome declared war. It was 
felt in Rome that the time had already come when the 
contest must be decided whether the Romans or 
Samnites were to rule in Southern Italy. During 
the first part of the war the Romans were successful ; 
but in B. c 321 the Roman army was defeated at the 
Caudine Forks by G. Pontius. The Romans, however, 
recovered, and Papirius Cursor was in a fair way to 
bring the war to a favorable conclusion when the Etrus- 
cans revolted. Fabius Maximus defeated the Etruscans 
at Lake Vadimo (b. c. 310), and in a few years after 
Bovianum, the capital of Samnium, was captured, and 
the Samnites were compelled to sue for peace (b. c. 304). 

The Lucanians furnished the cause for the third war 
with the Samnites. During the last war Lucania had 
sided with Rome, but the popular party among the Lu- 
canians was averse to this alliance, and sought support 
from the Samnites. As it was Rome's interest to keep 
the Lucanians as their allies in a sort of dependency, 
she ordered the Samnites not to interfere in Lucania, 
The Samnites refused to obey the command, and Rome 
declared war. Although the Samnites were assisted by 
the Etruscans and Umbrians, and almost all Italy was 
united in a league against Rome, still their united armies 
were defeated by Rullianus and Publius Decimus Mus 
at Sentinum (b. c. 295), and the Samnites were compelled 
to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. 



Battle at the 
Caudine Forks, 

B.C. 321. 



The Third 

Samnite War, 
B.C. 298-290. 



Battle 
of Sent inum, 

B.C. 295. 



1 There were three classes: (1) the towns with which the old alliance was renewed;" 
(2) those that became municipia; (3) and those that were absorbed into the Roman state, 
and from whose territory two new tribes were formed. 



116 



SUMMARY. 



War 

with Pyrrhus, 

B.C. 280-272. 



The only obstacle to Rome's entire mastery of the 
peninsula was Tarentum. A rash attack of the Taren- 
tines on the Roman fleet led to war. The Tarentines in- 
vited Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, to their assistance. He 
defeated the Roman army under Lasvinus at Heraclea 
(b. c. 280), and the next year at Asculum (b. c. 279). 
Events now occurred that called Pyrrhus to Sicily, but 
on his return three years afterwards he was defeated by 
Manius Curius at Beneventum 1 (b. c. 274), and Pyrrhus 
was compelled to evacuate Italy, and soon after (b. c. 
272) Tarentum surrendered, and all Italy south of the 
rivers Arnus and ^Esis acknowledged the supremacy 
of Rome. Military colonies were established in South- 
ern Italy at Psestum, Cosa' 2 (B.C. 273), and Beneventum, 
and the great Appian Way was soon extended to Brun- 
disium ; in the north, as an outpost against the Gauls, 
colonies were planted at Ariminum (b. c. 268), Firmum, 
and Castrum Novum. 3 

All the different states 4 in Italy were now united un- 
der the general management of Rome. Self-government 
was granted to the different states. Rome reserved to 
herself the sole right (1) to make war or to conclude 
peace ; (2) to coin money ; (3) Rome also had the right 
to demand ships-of-war and troops in case of war, and 
these troops must be armed and equipped by the com- 
munity which furnished them. The citizens within this 
great confederacy were divided into three classes: First, 
the body of Roman citizens 5 inhabiting Rome and the 
country tribes into which the Roman territory 6 was di- 
vided. Second, those who possessed the private rights 
of a Roman citizen, but not the public franchise (cives 
sine suffragio). Third, the allies, consisting of the 
Latins in a few old Latin towns, and of the so-called 
Latin colonies, 7 and of all the Sabellian and Greek 
towns in Italy. 



Rome's 
Relations to the 
Subject States 



Classes 
of Citizens. 



1 The name of the place where the battle was fought was changed for a good 
omen from Maleventum to Beneventum, and a colony established there, b. c. 268. 

2 The situation of Cosa is doubtful. According to Livy, xxvii., 10, it seemed to be 
on the west coast. 

:i To some of these places 4000, and to one as many as 20,000, colonists were sent. 

4 Embracing the territory south of the rivers Arnus and iEsis. 

5 The territory inhabited by Roman citizens extended from Caere on the north to 
Formiae on the south, and eastward as far as the Apennines. There were some cities 
within this limit that did not possess the full Eoman franchise, and a few beyond its 
bounds that did possess it. The number of citizens (including citizens of first and 
second class)= about 230,000 ; old men, women, children and slaves (about 50,000), and 
foreigners, total = about 2,300,000 ; the population of the city = 200.000 souls. 

6 Those citizens who had emigrated into Roman colonies {colonic?, civium Romanorum) 
retained all their civil rights, but could not exercise them on account of their absence 
from Rome. 

7 Colonic Latinaz, or Latin colonies, consisted of Roman citizens who, by becoming 
colonists, lost their right to vote in the comitia at Rome. The Latin colonies were 
planted in the conquered territory, and were compelled, as the rulers of the surrounding 
districts, to lean on Rome for support. To some of these places 4000 and to some as 
many as 20,000 colonists were sent. It was these Latin colonists, who belonged origi- 
nally to the body of Roman citizens, and who felt themselves everyway equal to Roman 
citizens, that felt so keenly, at a later time, their subordinate position. 



CARTHAGE AND ROME. 



116a 




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1165 LIST OF MAGISTRATES. 



List of Magistrates. 

Consuls (originally called praetors, sometimes justices) were the highest ordi- 
nary magistrates at Rome. They exercised at first the full civil and military authority. % 
They were always two in number and were elected annually by the Comitia Centuriata. 
It was their duty to command the army, convoke the Comitia Centuriata, to preside in 
the same and to carry into effect the decrees of the senate and the people. They entered 
upon their duties after b. c. 154 on the first of January. 

Tribunes of the People were elected (first in b. c. 494) to protect the plebeians. 
They could be chosen from the plebeians only, and their person was sacred. They 
were elected by the plebeians in the special plebeian assembly by tribes (after b. c. 471). 
The number of tribunes was increased in B<fc. 457 to ten. 

Praetor was first elected in b. c. 367. Originally there was only one ; but as the 
territory of the state was extended, the number was increased in b. c. 338 to two, in 
b. c. 227 to four, in B.C. 197 to six, by Sulla to eight, and by Caesar to sixteen. One of 
the praetors (prcetor urbanus) administered justice in the city, while the other (pere- 
yrinus) attended to lawsuits between foreigners or citizens and foreigners. After 
b. c. 149 all the praetors remained in the city during their year of office (two presiding, 
as formerly, in the civil courts, the other two having charge of criminal cases), and the 
next year as propraetors governed provinces. 

-ZEdiles were elected in the Comitia Tributa. There were two sets of aediles, two 
plebeian aediles and two curule aediles (elected first in b. c. 367). The aediles had charge 
of the public buildings, the care of cleaning and draining the city, and a general super- 
intendence of the police and the public games. 

Quaestors took charge of all the moneys belonging to the state. They received all 
the taxes and made all the payments for the civil and military service. At first there 
were two quaestors, but in b. c. 427, the number was increased to four, in b. c. 267 to 
eight, by Sulla to twenty and by Caesar to forty. 

Censors were two in number, and were elected every five years, hut they held 
their office only until their duties were discharged. Their duties were to take the census, 
on which the position of every one in the state depended ; they also exercised control 
over the conduct and morals of the citizens, and had a general superintendence of the 
finances of the state, under the direction of the senate (such as leasing the taxes, fixing 
the amount of the tributum for each individual, etc.). They had no concern, however, 
with payments into the treasury, nor with the expenditure of the public money. When- 
ever the senate resolved to have public works of any kind, as bridges, roads, aqueducts, 
etc., constructed, the censors made the contracts and superintended their erection. 

The magistrates above mentioned were elected annually. It beeame the custom 
(legally from the time of Sulla, b. c. 82) for them to remain the first year of office in the 
city, and then as proconsuls, propraetors, etc., to command in the provinces. It was 
legally enacted iu b. c. 180, by the Lex Annalis, that any citizen who desired to attain the 
consulship must commence with the quaestorship and pass through a regular gradation of 
public offices. The earliest age for the quaestorship was 27 years ; for the aedileship, 37 ; 
for the praetorship, 40 ; and for the consulship, 43. 

Dictator must be nominated by one of the consuls in obedience to a decree of the 
senate. He exercised for six months only the whole civil and military authority, all the 
other magistrates being subject to his control. He was usually nominated in case of 
some extraordinary danger, as for the prosecution of a war (rei gerundce causa) or the 
suppression of sedition (seditiords sedandce causa.) At a later time dictators were ap- 
pointed when the consuls were absent from the city to perform some special act, and 
they resigned when the duty was done. As soon as he was nominated he appointed a. 
lieutenant, called Magister Equitum, to lead the cavalry, while he led the legions. After 
the second Punic war, the office fell into disuse, the senate conferring upon the con^ils 
JLictatorial powers in the formula, videant consules ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat, j 



FOREIGN CONQUESTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Carthage and Rome. — The First Punic War 
(B. 0. 264-241). 

1. Nature of the Carthaginian Empire. — On the shores 
of the Mediterranean, opposite to Italy, lived from the earliest 
times the Libyans, 1 a branch of the Semitic race. Their 
country was early visited by the Phoenicians, whose enterprise 
led them to plant colonies not only on the coast of Africa and 
the islands of the Mediterranean, but even in Spain. Con- 
nected by no particular tie with the mother country these 
colonies soon became independent. One of the most important 
on the coast of Africa was Carthage, 2 which, from its favorable 
situation, attained a rapid growth, and succeeded in not only 
uniting the other colonies under her sway but in subjecting a 
considerable tract of the surrounding territory. The city grew 
rich by industry, agriculture and commercial enterprise. In 
order to extend their commerce, and make the products of the 
countries of the Mediterranean pass through their hands, the 
Carthaginians established trading-posts on the northern coast of 
Africa, in Sardinia, Corsica, Spain, and Sicily. Their vessels 
distributed the products of the East — glass from Sidon, em- 
broideries and purple from Tyre, frankincense from Arabia, 
slaves and ivory from Africa, linen from Egypt — over the* 
shores of the Mediterranean, and brought back in return iron 
from Elba, silver from the Balearic islands, gold from Spain, 
tin from Britain, and copper from Cyprus. Carthage became 

1 The Numidians, Mauritanians and Gaetuli an s belonged to the Libyan race. 
• 2 Carthage was founded probably in the ninth century; according to Jus, xviii. 6, 
in B. c. 826 ; according to others, in b. c. 861, or 826, or 888, 



118 CARTHAGE AND ROME. [b. C. 270. 

the mart for these countries, and the immense gain resulting 
from this commerce made her one of the richest cities in the 
world. 

2. The Constitution of Carthage. — The government was 
very similar to that of Rome. Two magistrates, elected by the 
people from the best families, were at the head of the state. 
The command of the army was committed to a dictator whose 
authority in the field was unlimited. The families were repre- 
sented in the senate, which, like the Roman senate, really man- 
aged ail matters of foreign and domestic policy. From the 
senators was elected a board of one hundred and four, in whose 
hands the judicial power was invested, and through which the 
senate exercised control over the magistrates and the general 
administration of public affairs. How wisely this government 
was planned and administered is attested by the fact that for 
more than six centuries there was no revolution in Carthage. 1 

3. The Relative Strength of Rome and Carthage. — 
It was in Sicily that the Romans and Carthaginians first came 
in contact. Their relations had hitherto been peaceful, and 
the treaty concluded in b. c. 348 had been renewed in b. c. 279. 
The resources of the two nations were nearly equal. Carthage 
relied on mercenaries for conquest and defence, while Rome 
formed her armies from her own citizens. The Roman empire 
was consolidated and the different peoples in Italy looked to 
Rome as the centre. The dependencies of Carthage were widely 
scattered, and too loosely connected to be serviceable in a long 
war. The efforts of the Carthaginians to gain possession of 
Sicily and the expedition of Pyrrhus to relieve Syracuse have 
been related. 2 Both Rome and Carthage were eagerly watching 
the course of events in Sicily, and it was evident that a struggle 
for the possession of the island was not far distant. Pyrrhus, 
when he quitted Sicily, exclaimed, "How fine a battle-field 
are we leaving to the Romans and Carthaginians ! " 

4. The Mamertines. — It happened while the war was going 
on between Pyrrhus and the Romans, that bands of mercenaries 

1 Aristotle, Polit. ii. 8, §9. ' See p. 107, 



B. c. 264.] 



CARTHAGE AND ROME. 



119 



seized the towns of Ehegium and Messana. After the con- 
clusion of the war Ehegium was taken by the Eomans and the 
revolters put to death. In 
Messana the 



The territory of Syracuse 

YEAR B. C. 264 



mercenaries 
who called themselves Ma- 
mertines, that is, sons of 
Mars, maintained their po- 
sition, preyed upon the 
surrounding territory, and 
made the whole island un- 
safe. After the capture of 
Ehegium the day of pun- 
ishment seemed near for 
the Mamertines. Hiero, 
the king of Syracuse, was 
sent against them. They 
were defeated in battle and 
shut up in Messana. After 
the siege had lasted five 
years, and the Mamertines 
were reduced to the last extremity, they looked about for aid. 
Their only choice was between Eome and Carthage. The 
party in favor of Eome finally prevailed, and an embassy w x as 
sent to the senate to offer the surrender of the city. The 
temptation was strong, for the refusal to grant protection 
would surely throw the town into the hands of the Carthagin- 
ians. Only six years before Hiero had assisted the Eomans 
in subduing Ehegium, and it seemed now impossible that the 
Eomans could lend their aid against their old ally to those who 
were guilty of the same crime which they had just punished 
so severely. If the assistance was granted it would lead to a 
war with Carthage and take the Eomans beyond Italy. The 
Eoman senate hesitated ; but when the question came before 
the people all considerations were laid aside, and, animated by 




1 According to Ihne, a Carthaginian garrison was first admitted to the town, and then 
an embassy sent to the Roman senate, 



120 CARTHAGE A^D ROME. [B. C. 262. 

the hope of spoils and gain, they yoted for the undertaking. 
The consul, Appius Claudius, was entrusted with the task of 
carrying out the decree. 

5. The Siege of Messana.— In the meantime the Car- 
thaginians had appeared before Messana and concluded a 
peace between Hiero and the Mamertines ; and Hanno, the 
Carthaginian general, had been admitted into the city, so that 
there was no longer any pretext for the interference of the Eo- 
mans. Still the consul would not abandon the enterprise. His 
legate crossed to Messana, ostensibly for the object of settling 
the difficulty, and persuaded the Mamertines to expel the Car- 
thaginians. Hiero and the Carthaginians made common 
cause, and laid siege to Messana. 1 . Appius, although the Car- 
thaginians ruled the sea, managed to elude their fleet, landed 
with his army, relieved Messana, and advanced even to the 
walls of Syracuse and defeated Hiero and the Carthaginians. 

6. The Capture of Agrigentum (b. c. 262). — The next 
year the Eomans carried on the war with two consular armies. 
On their advance the Sicilian cities one after the other deserted 
Hiero and the Carthaginians and joined the Eomans, so that 
the latter were in a fair way to gain possession of the whole 
island. Hiero became alarmed and saw that he had made a 
great mistake in forming an alliance with the Carthaginians. 
He soon concluded a peace with the Eomans, and ever after 
remained their faithful ally (b. c. 263). The Eomans now laid 
siege to Agrigentum, which the Carthaginians had selected as 
the base of their operations. After a siege of seven months, 
the city fell into their hands. The capture of this fortified 
town had not been attained without great loss, 2 but the success 
was correspondingly great. All Sicily, except -the fortresses of 
Eryx and Panormus, was entirely subdued. The Eomans began 
now to look higher than merely keeping the Carthaginians out 
of Messana. The prospect of acquiring all Sicily was opened 
to them. 



1 There was no formal declaration of war by the Roman fetialis (see page 41 f .) the 
action of the people had practically begun the war. 

- According to Diodorns (xxiii. 9), the Romans lost 30,000- 



B. C. 260.] CARTHAGE AND ROME. 121 

7. The First Roman Fleet. — The Romans prosecuted 
the war with vigor, but they saw from year to year that it was 
impossible to defend Sicily and bring the war to a successful 
conclusion without a navy. In Sicily the towns on the sea- 
coast were continually exposed to the attacks of the Cartha- 
ginian fleet, and even the coast of Italy was ravaged. There 
was a good deal of truth in the declaration of the Carthaginian 
diplomatists before the war, that no Roman against their will 
could wash even his hands in the sea. The Romans deter- 
mined to construct a fleet and meet the Carthaginians on their 
own element. The navy of the Greek and Etruscan towns 
must have been considerable, yet the Romans determined to 
defend Italy with a fleet of their own. Hitherto Rome had 
only built triremes, that is, galleys with three tiers of benches 
for rowers, which were entirely unable to cope with the quin- 
queremes of the Carthaginians — ships with five tiers of benches 
for rowers. A Carthaginian quinquereme, wrecked on the coast 
of Bruttium, served as a model. The forests of Italy furnished 
pitch and timber. The sailors 1 were levied from the Greek 
and Etruscan towns. In the short space of sixty days one^ 
hundred and twenty ships were built. 2 

8. The Battle off Mylae (b. c. 260).— One of the consuls, 
Cn. 3 Cornelius Scipio, put to sea with seventeen ships, but was 
surprised in the harbor of Lipara and taken prisoner with all his 
crews. This loss was, however, soon repaired. Gajus Duillius, 
his colleague, took command of the rest of the fleet and im- 
mediately led it against the enemy. The battle was fought off 
Mylse. The Carthaginians were far superior to the Romans in 
maritime tactics. In order to supply their lack of skill in 
manoeuvring the vessels, the Romans invented the boarding- 
bridges. 4 Each ship was provided with one, which was pulled 

1 The name socii navales shows that they were raised chiefly from the allies {socii). 

2 Ihne thinks that a great part of the fleet came from the allies and was manned by 
them (vol. ii., p. 54). 

3 Although the letter g had been in use for some time, still the abbreviation Cn. was 
retained for the name Gnceus. See Hist, of Literature. 

* It was thirty-six feet long and was pulled up twelve feet above the deck and fas- 
tened to the mast twenty-four feet high in such a way that it could be moved up and 
down as well as sideways, by means of a rope which passed from the end of the bridge 
through a ring in the top of the mast down to the deck. The bridge was broad enough 



122 



CARTHAGE AKD ROME. 



[B. C. 257. 



up and fastened to the mast in the fore part of the ship. If 

the enemy's ship approached 
near enough, the rope was 
loosened, the bridge fell on 
the deck of the hostile ship, 
and the spikes on the under 
side penetrated the timbers 
and fastened the two ships 
together. The soldiers then 
ran along the bridge to board, 
and the sea-fight became a 
hand-to-hand engagement. 
When the Carthaginians saw 
the Soman fleet, confident of 
an easy victory, they bore 
down upon it. The board- 
ing-bridges worked admira- 
bly. Their ships were seized 
by the boarding-bridges, and 
when it came to a hand-to- 
hand fight the Carthaginian 
crews were no match for the 
Eoman soldiers. The victory 
was complete, and Duillius 
was awarded the honor of a 
triumph 1 on his return to 
Rome, and a column, deco- 
rated with the beaks of the 

conquered ships and an inscription 2 celebrating the victory/ 

was erected in the forum. 

9. The Battles of Tyndaris and Ecnomns. — After 

the battle of Mylae, two plans were open to the Eomans, either 




COLTJMNA ROSTRATA. 



for two soldiers to walk abreast, and a railing on each side protected them from the mis- 
siles of the enemy. 

1 It is related that other honors were conferred upon him. and that he was accom- 
panied home in the evening from banquets by a flute-player and torch-bearer. 

2 The fragment of the inscription on this column, renewed by Tiberius, is preserved 
at Rome, in the Palace of the Conservator! {Duilios consol advQTSWn Pcenos en Seceliad, 
etc. See Rist. of Lit n p. ), 



B, C. 256.] CARTHAGE AND ROME. 123 

to invade Africa or to attack and subdue the islands of the 
Mediterranean. The latter course was adopted. Expeditions 
were sent to Cosica and Sardinia, and Hamilcar, who at this 
time was placed in command of the Carthaginian forces in 
Sicily, was driven to the western end of the island. The sea 
battle at Tyndaris (b. c. 257), although not a decisive victory, 
encouraged the Romans to enlarge their fleet, and transfer the 
war to Africa. The task was entrusted to the two consuls, M. 
Atilius Eegulus and L. Manlius Vulso. They sailed along the 
southern coast of Sicily, and near Ecnomus met the Cartha- 
ginian fleet, under command of Hamilcar and Hanno, pre- 
pared to obstruct their way to Africa. In the battle which 
followed, 1 the boarding-bridges did good service as at Mylae. 
The Roman fleet was victorious and the way to Africa was 
opened. 

10. Regulus in Africa (b. c. 256).— The Romans landed 
near the town of Clypea, and established there their camp. 
The country all about w r as covered with flourishing villages, 
towns, and the villas oi the nobility. The spoils were great. 
Town after town fell into the hands of the Romans, till at last 
the capital itself was in danger. The Carthaginians sued for 
peace, but the conditions were too humiliating, and they deter- 
mined to continue the war w 7 ith energy. They increased their 
forces. Among their mercenaries was Xanthippus, a Spartan 
general, a man of great military ability. He pointed out to 
them that their defeat was due to the fact that they did not 
select the proper field of battle where their elephants and cav- 
alry could be useful, and not to the superiority of the Romans. 
By his advice the Carthaginians left the hills and offered bat- 
tle on the level ground. This Regulus readily accepted. His 
army was almost annihilated (b. c. 255). A Roman fleet 2 was 
sent to carry off the remains of the army, but on its return 
home, it was overtaken by a fearful hurricane on the southern 



1 The Romans, according to Polybius, had 330 ships and 140,000 men ; and the Ca.r^ 
thaginians had a still larger force, 150,000 men and 350 vessels. 
a On its way to gain a victory at the Hermann promontory, 



124 CARTHAGE Al^D ROME. [B. C. 254. 



coast of Sicily. Nearly the entire fleet was destroyed, and the 
coast was strewed for miles with wrecks and corpses. 

11. Panormus (b. c. 254).— The Romans, after these re- 
yerses, set about with undiminished energy rebuilding their 
fleet, and in less than three months they had 220 vessels ready 
for sea. This fleet surprised and captured Panormus (Pal- 
ermo), one of the most important Carthaginian strongholds in 
Sicily. This success so encouraged the Romans that they made 
a second descent on the African coast, but nowhere obtained 
a firm footing. On its return the fleet was overtaken by a 
terrible storm near the Palinurian promontory on the coast of 
Lucania, in which one hundred and fifty ships were lost. For 
the next few years the war languished. The Carthaginian 
dominion was confined to the western part of Sicily, with the 
two important fortresses of Lilybasum and Drepana, 

12. Panormus (b. c. 250). — In the year b. c. 251 Ham- 
ilcar arrived in Sicily with a large army and one hundred and 
forty elephants. He laid waste the country and approached 
the walls of Panormus. The consul, L. Metellus, 1 at a favor- 
able time accepted battle and gained a complete victory. This 
was the most important battle that had yet been fought in 
Sicily, 2 and the result encouraged the Romans. 



GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 
L. C^ecilius Metellus, 
cos. b. c. 251, 247. 



Q. Metellus, L. Metellus, M. Metellus, 

cos. b. c. 206. tr. pi. b. c. 215. pr. b. c. 206. 



Q. Metel. Macedonicus, L. Metellus Calvus, 

' cos. b. c. 143. cos. b. c. 142. 



2. Met. Balear- L. Met. Diadem- M. Metellus, G. Met. Cecilia, m. Cecilia, m. 
icus, Atus, cos. b.c. 115. Caprarius, G. Servilius, Scipio Na- 

COS. B. C. 125. COS. B. C. 117- COS. B.C. 113. Vatia. sica. 

2 Hamilcar, on his return to Carthage, was crucified. 120 elephants were taken and 
led in the triumphal procession of Metellus, 



B. C. 249.] CARTHAGE AND ROME. 125 

13. Lilybceum and Drepana. — The battle of Panormus 
was a turning point in the war. The Carthaginians were dis- 
couraged and sent an embassy 1 to Home to negotiate a peace. 
Nothing, however, was accomplished, and the Komans renewed 
the war with vigor. They concentrated all their force against 
Lilybaeum, 2 situated in the western extremity of the island on a 
promontory of the same name. This siege, like that of Veji 
lasted almost ten years. All kinds of attacks were resorted to, 
but without avail. In the second year (b. c. 249), the consul, 
P. Claudius Pulcher, 3 was sent to Sicily with a new army. He 

1 Connected with this embassy is the celebrated story of Regulus. It is related that 
he was sent to Rome with the ambassadors to negotiate a peace or at least procure an 
exchange of prisoners, bound by his oath to return if not successful. The poets relate 
how Regulus at first refused to enter the city as a slave of a Carthaginian ; how he would 
not give his opinion in the senate, as he had ceased by his captivity to be a member of 
that body : how at length he dissuaded his countrymen not only against peace but 
against an exchange of prisoners, because he thought it would result to the advantage of 
Carthage ; how he resisted all the persuasions of his family and friends who urged him 
to remain at Rome ; how, when the senate wavered and seemed disposed to make the ex- 
change, he told them that he could no longer be of any service to his country, because 
the Carthaginians had given him a slow poison, which would soon terminate in his 
death. He refused to see his wife and children, and, true to his oath, returned to Car- 
thage, where he was put to death with cruel tortures. When the news of his death 
reached Rome, the senate gave up two noble Carthaginians, Hamilcar and Bosfar, to 
his family, on whom to revenge themselves for the cruel death of Regulus. This story, 
inherently improbable, is not mentioned by Polybius. It is scarcely credible that the 
Romans refused to exchange prisoners, for we know from Zonaras (viii. 16) that they 
agreed to an exchange willingly two years afterwards. 

2 The modern Marsala : for the manner of besieging a town see p. 381. 

3 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

Appius Claudius C^ecus, 

cens. B.C. 312. 



Ap. Claud. Crassus, P. Cl. Pulcher, G. Cl. Cento, Tib. Cl. Nero, Claudle, 
cos. b. c. 268. cos. b. c. 249. cos. b. c. 240. Quinque. 



Ap. Cl. Pulcher, cos. b. c. 212. Claudia Qutnta. 



Claudia m. Ap. Cl. Pulcher, P. Cl. Pulcher, G. Cl. Pulcher, 

Pecuvius Calavius. cos. b. c. 184. cos. b. c. 177. 

A. Cl. Pulcher, m. Antistia. 



A. Cl. Pulcher. Claudia, Claudia, m. 

Vestal. Tib. Gracchus, 



126 CARTHAGE AND EOME. [B. C. 247. 

formed the design of surprising the Carthaginians at Drepana. 
The attack miscarried, and he was defeated with great loss. 1 
This defeat caused great terror at Home, such as the city had 
not experienced since the day of the Allia. 2 

14. Destruction of the Roman Transport Ships. — The 
other consul, L. Junius Pullus, was almost equally unsuccess- 
ful. He was sailing along the coast of Sicily with a part of 
the eight hundred transports, loaded with provisions for the 
soldiers in Lilybseum, which he had collected in Sicily and 
Italy, when he was overtaken by a storm, which was so severe 
that not one of the transport ships was saved. 

15. Romans Discouraged. — These were great misfortunes 
for the Eomans. The war had continued fifteen years. They 
had lost four large fleets and more than one-sixth of their fight- 
ing population. Lilybseum and Drepana defied all their efforts. 
Their trade and industry were ruined. It was no wonder that 
they were discouraged. They became inactive or carried on hos- 
tilities on a small scale. For the next six years their efforts 
were chiefly confined to blockading Lilybaeum and Drepana. 

16. Hamilcar Barcas. — In the year b. c. 247 the chief 
command of the Carthaginians was entrusted to Hamilcar, sur- 
named Barcas (that is, Lightning), the father of the celebrated 
Hannibal. He was truly a great man. With slender means 
he carried on the war for six years ; until the faults of others 
compelled him to counsel peace. 

17. Battle at the -ZEgatian Islands (b.c. 241).— He took 
possession of Mount Hercte (Monte Pellegrino), from which he 
could threaten Panormus, now the most important possession 
of the Eomans in Sicily. For three years Hamilcar attacked 
the Eomans by land and sea, even carried his raids as far as 
Mount iEtna, and laid waste the coast of Italy. All efforts on 
the part of the Eomans to dislodge him were in vain. At length 
he left Mount Hercte for a position on Mount Eryx, near Dre- 



1 He lost 8,000 men in battle, 20,000 prisoners, and 180 shins. 

2 The Romans attributed his defeat to his impiety. When the auguries were con- 
sulted, and Claudius was informed that the (-acred chickens would not eat, "At any 
rate," saul he, " let them drink ;" and ordered them to be cast into the sea. 



B. C. 241.] THE WAE WITH THE MERCENARIES. 127 

pana, which he held for two years longer ; at length the 
Komans determined to build another fleet and attack the Car- 
thaginians again on the sea, the only means by which the war 
could be brought to a successful conclusion. In b. c. 242 a 
fleet of two hundred ships under the consul GL Lutatius Ca- 
tulus was fitted out and sent to Sicily. As the Carthaginian 
fleet was away plundering the coast of Italy and Sicily, the 
consul had time to exercise his men and become acquainted 
with the coast. The next year (b. c. 241)/ he gained a com- 
plete victory over the Carthaginian fleet off the iEgatian 
islands. 

18. Terms of Peace. — The Carthaginians were exhausted 
and weary of the war. The discontent of their mercenaries 
warned them to make peace. Carthage therefore empowered 
Hamilcar to treat with Catulus. At first the Romans de- 
manded dishonorable conditions, but when Hamilcar refused 
these, and as the consul was anxious to complete the negotia- 
tion before his term of office expired, preliminaries were agreed 
upon. Carthage was to evacuate Sicily, to give up the Roman 
prisoners without ransom, and pay the cost of the war. 2 



• 9 ♦ •• 



chapter xxi. 

The Beginning of the Provincial System — The Illy- 
rian Wars — Wars with the Gauls. 

1. War with the Mercenaries (b.c. 241-238).— During 
the interval between the th€ first and second Punic wars, a 
period of twenty-three years, both Eome and Carthage exerted 

1 The engagement was with the fleet of the Carthaginians, which had just arrived 
with supplies for the troons in Sicily. The commander attempted to land the provisions 
and take on board the soldiers of Hamilcar, then engage the Romans. Catullus, although 
wounded, promptly prevented this. In the battle which followed, Valerius Falto took 
the command. 

2 That is, the sum of 3,200 talents = $4,000,000 ; one-third down and the remainder 
in ten annual payments, 



128 THE BEGINNING OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM. [B.C. 229. 

themselves to the utmost to consolidate and extend their 
power. 

The resources of Carthage were very much weakened by the 
revolt of her subjects in Africa ; so much so, that when the 
mercenaries returned from Sicily, and being unable to obtain 
their overdue pay, they rose in open mutiny. The mercenaries 
and African allies made common cause. They laid waste the 
country far and wide, and all the towns in Libya except Car- 
thage were in their hands. The genius of Hamilcar organized 
an army, and after a war of nearly three years, exterminated 
the mutineers. 

2. Provincial System. — Eome took advantage of the ex- 
hausted condition of Carthage, to interfere in a revolt in Sar- 
dinia. When Carthage made preparations to subdue the 
revolting island, Rome pretended to regard it as a menace of 
war. Carthage being too much exhausted to engage in war 
with Eome, had to purchase peace by resigning Sardinia and 
paying twelve hundred talents. 1 Sardinia 2 became a Eoman 
province. 3 At this time (b. c. 227) Sicily 4 was also organized 
as a province. This was the beginning of the provincial sys- 
tem. Each province was governed by a praetor (per egr inns) 
and paid taxes 5 to the Eoman people. 

3. Hamilcar Barcas. — The manner in which Carthage 
had been treated inspired in Hamilcar an implacable hatred of 
Eome. He departed for Spain, where he strove to restore the 
resources of his government and renew her exhausted energies. 

4. The First Illyrian War (b. c. 229-228).— The Eomans, 
in securing their frontier, first came in contact with the Illy- 

1 About 1,500,000 dollars. 

2 Corsica, which had never been in the hands of Carthage, was added to Sardinia, and 
formed one province. 

3 The word province {provincia) denoted primarily the field to which the imperium 
of the consul or other magistrate was limited. When foreign territory was acquired, the 
government of it was assigned to a consul or praetor and the imperium was extended 
{prorogatum) for this purpose. This foreign territory was called provincia, a special use 
of the word, which is more familiar than the original meaning. 

* According to Appian (Sic. 2), Sicily was organized as a province in b. c. 241 ; Livy 
(Ep. xx.) says that the number of praetors was increased from two to four in b. c. 227, 
and one sent to Sicily ; this is the earliest notice that the Romans took the government 
into their hands. The province of Sicily consisted, until b. c. 210, of only the western 
part of the island; after that, of the whole island. The territory of Syracuse consisted of 
the seven cities, Syracusse, Acrae, Lcontini, Megara, Elorum, Netum, and Tauromenium, 

5 Either vectigal or tributum* 



B. C. 225.] THE WAR WITH THE ILLYRIANS. 129 

rians, who lived on the eastern side of the Adriatic. They were 
a nation of pirates and made the whole Adriatic and Ionian seas 
unsafe for commerce/ and even the Italian towns began to suf- 
fer. An embassy was sent to Scodra (Scutari), to Queen Teuta, 
to complain of their injuries. She not on]y refused all redress, 
but caused one of the ambassadors to be murdered on his way 
home. War 2 was declared (b. c. 229). A Eoman fleet appeared 
in the Adriatic, the corsair vessels were scattered and Queeu 
Teuta compelled to give up her conquests and make peace. 
Corcyra was surrendered and Demetrius of Pharos (Lesina) 
taken under the protection of Home. The Greek towns which 
were liberated from the Illyrians were taken under the protec- 
tion of Rome. The action of Eome in suppressing the piracy 
caused great joy among the Greek states. 

5. The Agrarian Law of Gv Flaminius (b.c. 232).— The 
Eomans began now to look to their border in northern Italy, 
with a view of extending it to the Alps. After the defeat of the 
Gauls at the Vadimonian Lake comparative quiet had prevailed, 
and the colonies at Sena and Ariminum had been founded to se- 
cure their dominion in that quarter. There were still large tracts 
of unoccupied land which had been taken from the Gauls, and 
which had thus far remained as public land. In b. c. 232 the 
tribune, G. Flaminius, carried an agrarian law to the effect that 
this land should be divided among the veterans and poorer classes 
in order to people those districts. The senate, although since 
the Hortensian law the resolutions of the assembly of tribes did 
not need the confirmation of the patrum auctoritas, resisted 
the measure. In spite of this resistance the law was executed, 
colonies were planted, and the Flaminian Way 3 constructed 
to Ariminum, at that time the extreme outpost of Eoman 
civilization. 

6. War with the Gauls (b.c. 225-222).— This activity of 
the Eomans alarmed the Boji. They looked forward to the clay 
when their country would be seized by Eoman settlers. To pre- 

1 The towns Issa, Pharos, Apollonia, and Epidamnus were in danger. Corcyra was 
taken and given to an unprincipled Greek from Pharos called Demetrius. 

2 An army of 20,000 men and 2,000 horse went to Brundisium to embark, 

3 Via Flaminia ; see maps, pp. 2 and 114. 



130 



THE WAR WITH THE ILLYRIANS. 



Map Illustrating 

THE 

Illyrian Wars 




The country on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, comprising what was afterwards the 
provinces Dalmatia, Pannonia, Moe>ia, and, according to Appian (Illyr. 6). Rhaetia, and 
Noricum, was known to the ancients by the name of Illyricum (see map, p. 130). At one 
time Dacia and the district between the Dalmatians and Epiras, with the cities Apollonia, 
Dyrrhacium, and Lissus, were included under the name of Illyricum, although later this 
district was mostly joined to Macedonia and known as Illyria. The last king of Illyria 
was Gentius ; he was subdued b. c. 167, his capital, Scodra, taken, and his kingdom was 
divided into three parts and taken under the protection of Rome. When the Dalmatians, 
Iapydian, and Liburnians were subdued their country was formed into a province which 
the Romans called Illyricum. It extended on the south to the river Drilo, on the north to 
the northern boundary of Pannonia, and to the eastward as far as the Donau (after a.d. 9). 
In a. d. 10 Pannonia was made a separate province, and at the same time the territory be- 
tween the borders of Macedonia and those of Italy, or from Lissus to the river Arsia, was 
organized under the name of superior provincia Illyricum, or simply Illyricum. Soon 
after the time of Augustus (about a. d. 50) the name Dalniatia was substituted for that of 
Illyricum, 



B.C. 222.] THE WAR WITH THE GAULS. 131 



vent this they organized an alliance of all the Cisalpine Gauls, 1 
and summoned numerous adventurers across the Alps for a com- 
bined attack on Kome. When the news of this invasion reached 
Home terror pervaded all Italy. The day of the Allia * was re- 
called and the Sibylline books 2 were consulted. To avert the 
impending evil two Gauls and two Grecians, one of each sex, 
were burned alive in the public market-place. 3 A large army 4 
was raised and stationed at Ariminum, on which side the attack 
was expected. In the common danger the allies eagerly offered 
men and supplies. The consul, Atilius Regulus, who was 
engaged in a war with the natives in Sardinia, was hastily 
summoned home. The Gauls, deceiving the calculations of 
the Romans, took the most westerly of the great highways to 
Rome and thus avoided the consular army at Ariminum. They 
fell in with the reserve corps, and completely defeated it. 5 In- 
stead of continuing their advance to Rome they decided to fall 
back and first place their plunder in safety, and after collecting 
new forces, renew their raids. By this time the consular army 
had arrived from Ariminum and followed closely on their heels. 
The other consul had brought back his army from Sardinia, 
and landing at Pisa, marched southward on the same road on 
which the Gauls were retreating. The decisive battle was 
fought near Telamon (Telemone). The Gauls, hemmed in 
between the two consular armies, were annihilated. 6 

7. Roman Colonies. — During the next two years the Ro- 
mans defeated the Insubres, captured their capital, Mediolanum 
(b. c. 222), compelled them to submit, and reduced the whole 
country between the Alps and Apennines. Two more colonies, 
Placentia and Cremona, were founded to secure the newly ac- 
quired territory. 7 

1 Except the Cenomonians. * See p. 77, note. 

2 Plu. Marcell. 3: according to Ihne the libri fatales, of Etruscan origin, were con- 
sulted. The Sibylline books, which were of Grecian origin, would hardly demand the 
sacrifice of a Greek. 

3 Forum Boarium. 

1 The army numbered in all 23,000 men and was commanded by the consul, L. ^Emilius 
Papus, with a reserve corps of about 50,000 Umbrians and Sabines to protect Etruria, 
stationed near Arretium. 

5 Probably near Clusium. 

6 This was b.c. 225 ; 40,000 were killed ; 10,000 taken prisoners ; only the horsemen 
escaped. 

7 According to Mommsen the Via Flaminia was extended, after the subjection of' 
Cisalpine Gaul, from Spoletium through the Furlo Pass to Ariminum (b. c. 220). 



132 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. [B. C. 219. 

8. The Second Illyrian War (b. c. 219).— While the 
Romans were engaged on the northern frontier in subduing the 
Gauls, Demetrius of Pharos had taken the opportunity to free 
himself from his subjection to Rome, and entered into an 
alliance with Antigonus of Macedonia. Thinking that Rome 
would soon be engaged in a war with Carthage, he had collected 
a fleet, attacked the Roman allies, and committed various acts 
of piracy along the coast as far as the iEgean Sea. The Ro- 
mans prepared with all speed to settle affairs in Illyricum, that 
their hands might be free for the war with Hannibal which was 
now inevitable. The consul, L. iEmilius Paulus, 1 crossed the 
Adriatic, destroyed Pharos, and restored the Roman supremacy 
in that quarter. Demetrius fled to Macedonia and sought to 
prevail on the king to declare war against Rome ; but Philip, 
the new king, 2 was too young to resent the attack upon his 
ally. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



The Second Punic War (B. 0. 218-201).— The First 
Period (B. C. 218-216). 

1. Carthaginian Policy. — While Eome was busy enlarg- 
ing and strengthening her power, Carthage was not idle. 
After the loss of Sardinia the determination to renew the 
struggle with Eome became a fixed national sentiment. The 
aristocratic and peace party lost their control of the govern- 
ment. The popular party with true instinct saw their only 
hope in war, and a fitting leader in Hamilcar. He found a 
rich compensation for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia in Spain. 
Here, during nine (b. c. 236-228) years he extended the Car- 
thaginian power over the southern part of the peninsula. When 

1 This spelling is better than Paullus, see Brambach, p. 262, 
? Antigonus died b. c. 221, 



B. C. 219.] THE SECOKD PUNIC WAR. 133 

he fell in battle his plans were ably carried out by his son- 
in-law, Hasdrubal, whom the voice of the soldiers raised to the 
chief command. New Carthage was founded and destined to 
be the capital of the new empire. The steady advance of tho 
Carthaginian power to the northward awakened the jealousy of 
Eome ; she entered into an alliance with Saguntum and Em- 
poria and assumed to be the protectress of the Greek cities on 
the Iberian as she already was of those on the Adriatic Sea. 
She formed an alliance with several of the native tribes and 
compelled Hasdrubal to declare that Carthage would not ex- 
tend her power beyond the Ebro {Iberus). 

2. Siege of Saguntum 1 (b.c.219).— In B.C. 221 Hasdrubal 
was assassinated. The universal voice of the army and the Car- 
thaginian people called Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barcas, 
to the chief command. He was at that time in his twenty-ninth 
year, and was already trained to the knowledge of war. Sworn 
from boyhood to eternal hatred of Rome, he had accompanied 
his father to Spain, and was there trained to that personal 
courage and endurance that made him the idol of the army. 
He wished to make war at once on Eome before the Illyrians 
and Gauls were subdued; but he had first to complete his 
preparations for the security of Spain and Africa, and to try 
his army. In the spring of B.C. 219 he proceeded to attack 
Saguntum, which claimed to be of Greek origin and which had 
already entered into an alliance with Eome. The Eoman senate 
warned him to desist, and felt that a warning would be suffi- 
cient. Hannibal pushed on the siege, and after a stubborn 
resistance of eight months the town surrendered. 

3. Roman Embassy to Carthage. — A second embassy 
was sent to Carthage, after the fall of Saguntum, to demand 
the surrender of Hannibal as a sign that the Carthaginians 
took no part in this violence done to the allies of Eome. 
After a long discussion, Quintus Fabius, the chief of the em- 
bassy, gathering up the folds of his toga, said, " Here I carry 
peace and war; say, ye men of Carthage, which you choose ?" 
" Give us which ye will/' was the reply. " Then we give you 
war," said Fabius, spreading out his toga. "We accept it, 

1 See map, p. 175. 



134 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. [B. C. 21$. 

and will maintain it with the same spirit with which we have 
accepted it." 1 Thus the war was declared, a war the most 
memorable of all in the annals of the ancient world ; 2 memora- 
ble not alone for its length, the numbers engaged, and the 
ability of the generals, but it decided the future destiny of 
Europe. It decided whether the civilization of Greece or 
Home was to prevail in the west, or to be superseded by the 
Semitic civilization of the east. 

After the fall of Saguntum, Hannibal returned to New Car- 
thage, where he spent the winter in preparation for the invasion 
of Italy. 

4. The Growth of Roman Power. — The power of Rome 
had been much increased since the last war with Carthage. 3 
All Italy was now united, old animosities had died out and all 
looked to Rome as the centre. Her armies were composed of 
her own citizens and faithful allies. Her supremacy was ac- 
knowledged in the western Mediterranean. With Carthage the 
case was very different. Her armies were composed of merce- 
naries, her subjects and allies not trustworthy, and her finances, 
although considerably improved by the resources of Spain, 
were far from what they had been. Hannibal saw this, and 
the necessity of securing allies. Negotiations were opened with 
the king of Macedonia and with the Gauls in northern Italy. 
The colonies which the Romans had founded in their country 
had awakened anew their hostility. If he could unite these 
Gauls with his own disciplined army, and make their country 
the base of his attack on Rome, his success seemed certain. 
He hoped also to secure the alliance of the Italians, and that 
his victories would finally shake the adhesion of the Latins. 

5. Hannibal's March from New Carthage. — In the 
spring of B. c. 218 all his preparations were complete, and he 
crossed the Ebro with an army of ninety thousand foot, twelve 
thousand horse, and thirty-seven elephants. After a severe 
contest, and the 'sacrifice of nearly one-fourth of his army, he 

1 Livy, xxi. 18. 2 Livy, xxi. 1. 

3 The population of Italy proper was about 9,000,000, with 770,000 men capable of 
bearing arms. 



B.C. 218.] THE SECOND PUNIC WAK. 135 

forced his way through the country between the Ebro and 
Pyrenees. At the Pyrenees he left his brother, Hasdrubal, 
with ten thousand men to defend the newly conquered territory. 
An equal number of Spanish soldiers he discharged, finding 
that they accompanied him unwillingly. With a picked force 
of fifty thousand men and nine thousand horse and the ele- 
phants, he reached the Rhone without serious opposition. The 
Gauls had assembled a force on the eastern bank of the river. 
These he outflanked by sending a detachment, under Hanno, 
across on rafts two days march higher up, and thus easily put 
the Gauls to rout and forced a passage. 

6. The Preparations of the Romans. — The Romans 
acted with remissness. They had no conception of Hannibal's 
plan. The two consular armies were levied as usual ; the one 
under Tiberius Sempronius Longus was to be sent to Sicily and 
from thence to cross over into Africa to attack Carthage itself ; 
the other, under Publius Cornelius Scipio, to act against Han- 
nibal in Spain. Scipio, late in the summer, proceeded to Mas- 
silia on his way to Spain. Here he learned that Hannibal had 
crossed the Ebro and Pyrenees. On advancing up the Rhone 
to the spot where Hannibal had crossed, he learned that the 
Carthaginian army was three days in advance of him on its 
way to Rome. When he heard this, he sent the main part of 
his force under his brother Gnseus into Spain, and he himself 
set sail with a few men for Genoa and hastened to Cisalpine 
Gaul to take command of the troops there and attack Hanni- 
bal immediately on his arrival. 

7. Hannibal's Route. — Hannibal advanced up the river 
Isere almost to the foot of the Little St. Bernard. Here he 
commenced the passage of the Alps. In contests with the 
native tribes and in struggling through the difficult places he 
lost more than half of his army ; when he at length emerged 
into the valley of the Duria and descended into the plains of 
the Po his first care was to recruit his exhausted troops. After 
a few days rest he turned against the Taurinians, who had re- 
jected his offers of alliance, and in three days took their capital 
( Turin) and annihilated their army. The other tribes submitted. 



136 



THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 



[B.C. 218. 



Route of Hannibal 




JVgt & See, N. Y. 



8. Skirmish on the Ticinus. — The Bomans had no suit- 
able army in northern Italy * to oppose the progress of Hanni- 
bal. The recent insurrection of the Gauls, on account of the 
founding of Placentia and Cremona, had caused the Bomans 
to leave some troops there. The consul Scipio took command of 
this force, and, utterly ignorant of the quality of Hannibal's 
army and his genius as a commander, hastened to meet him. 
He advanced along the left bank of the Po, across the Ticinus, 
where he fell in with a part of Hannibal's cavalry. The Eoman 
cavalry was repulsed and Scipio himself severely wounded. 
Unwilling to come to a regular engagement, on account of the 
superiority of the Numidian cavalry, Scipio hastened across the 
Po to Placentia. Having occupied a strong position on the left 
bank of the Trebia, he waited until his colleague arrived from 
Sicily. 

9. The Battle of the Trebia (b. c. 218). — Sempronius 



1 See map, p. 2. 



B.C. 217.] THE SECOND PUKIC WAR. 137 

had already sent his troops to Ariminum 1 and from thence he 
marched to the Trebia where he effected a junction with Scipio. 
The combined armies 2 were superior to Hannibal's, and Sem- 
pronius was eager for battle. Hannibal succeeded in drawing 
the Roman army across the river, already swollen by the recent 
rains, and in delivering battle on a field chosen by himself. It 
was towards midwinter (December), and the day was cold, and 
sleet and snow filled the air. The battle was decisive. The Ro- 
mans were completely defeated and thousands perished on the 
retreat, in the river and by the cold. The remains of the army 
took refuge within the walls of Placentia. The wavering Gauls 
joined the Carthaginian standard and were eager for the plun- 
der of Italy. 

10. Battle of Lake Trasimenus (b. c. 217).— The Ro- 
mans made great preparations for the next campaign. Four 
new legions were raised, and provisions and supplies were sent 
to the north. One of the new consuls Cn. Servilius, proceeded 
to Ariminum with two legions, and the other, G. Flaminius, 
the leader of the popular party and a man of great energy, to 
Arretium. It was the same Flaminius who was the author of 
the Agrarian law that occasioned the Gallic war. Of no great 
military ability, he had been raised to the consulship by popu- 
lar favor, in opposition to the aristocratic party. After his 
election he hurried from Rome, lest under pretext of some bad 
omen his election should be annulled. 3 As soon as the season 
permitted, Hannibal crossed the Apennines, 4 and after great 
difficulty and tremendous loss in the low ground along the 
Arno, reached the Upper Arno, and then proceeded southward 
past the camp of the consul at Arretium towards Perusia. 
Flaminius followed the Carthaginian army beyond Cortona as 
far as Lake Trasimenus, 5 where Hannibal awaited the consul's 
approach in a narrow defile, 6 his army occupying the heights. 

1 According to Livy, xvi. 51. - Numbered 49,000. 

3 Livy, xxi. 63. It was customary for the newly elected consul, before departing for 
his province, clad in his purple-bordered toga, to offer prayer to Jupiter Capitolinus, per- 
form certain sacrifices, and superintend the celebrationfof the Latin festivaf on the Alban 
Mount. These formalities Flaminius disregarded and left Rome at once. 

4 By the Pontremoli pass from Parma to Lucca. 

5 Laqo di Perugia ; see colored map, p. 4. 

6 According to Nissen, near the village of Tuoro. 



138 THE SECOND PUHIC WAS. [b. C. %V1. 

The Eoman column advanced without hesitation into the defile, 
the thick mist concealing the position of the enemy. The rear- 
guard had just entered when Hanuibal gave the signal for 
battle. The Komans, attacked by invisible enemies, encum- 
bered by their baggage, with no time to form their line of 
battle, were cut down on every side. 1 

11. Hannibal's Treatment of his Prisoners. — Hannibal 
treated the prisoners the same as after the battle of Trebia. 
The Eoman allies were dismissed without ransom, with the 
assurance that Hannibal only waged war against Eome. By 
this means he hoped to shake the adhesion of the Italians, and 
to represent himself, not as an invader, but as one come to free 
them from the Eoman yoke. All Etruria was lost to the Eo- 
mans, and the road to Eome was open. The senate, however, 
did not despair. Measures were taken for the defence of the 
capital ; the bridges over the Tiber were broken down ; arms 
were distributed, Servilius was summoned to Eome, and Quin- 
tus Fabius Maximus was appointed dictator. 2 

12. Plans of Hannibal. — Hannibal did not march to 
Eome as was expected, but turned aside across the Apennines 
through Umbria and Picenum to the Adriatic, and then con- 
tinued his march to the southward, hoping that the Italians 
would join his standard. Not a town opened its gates ; their 
fidelity to Eome remained unshaken. 

13. The Policy of Fabius. — Four new legions were 
raised, and Fabius determined not to risk a battle, but revive 
the courage of his army and accustom his soldiers to war. He 
marched through Samnium into Apulia and encamped near 
Hannibal. The latter tried to force him to an engagement, 
but nothing could induce him to change his cautious strategy. 
Hannibal marched past him, crossed the Apennines into the 
Campanian plain, the garden of Italy, and then to Capua. 
After the battle at Lake Trasimenus he had released three 
Capuan knights who promised him their assistance. Capua, 

1 Fifteen thousand were killed and an equal number taken prisoners. Hannibal lost 
only fifteen hundred. The battle was fought the last of April. 

2 Constitutionally one of the consuls must nominate a dictator ; in this case it was 
impossible, so the people elected a pro-dictator. 



B.C. 217.] THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 139 

however, remained faithful, and Hannibal continued to lay 
the country waste far and wide, and, after collecting his plun- 
der, set out to retrace his steps to Apulia. Fabius had all 
this time followed on his track, and from a secure position 
on the mountains had watched the ravages of Hannibal. Fa- 
bius attempted to occupy a pass and thus obstruct the retreat 
of Hannibal, loaded as he was with prisoners and plunder, to 
Apulia. Hannibal, instead of retracing his steps and taking 
another road, eluded the vigilance of Fabius by a stratagem. 
He ordered his light-armed troops to drive, in the night, a 
number of oxen with fagots tied to their horns, to the summit 
of the hill. The Eomans in the pass, thinking that the Car- 
thaginians were crossing the hills in that direction, left the 
pass and hastened to the same heights. This left the defile 1 
open for Hannibal and he continued his march with all his 
plunder, unmolested, to Geronium, where he encamped, dis- 
patching a part of his army to collect supplies, while the re- 
mainder watched Fabius. 

14. Dissatisfaction with Fabius. — The inactivity of the 
dictator occasioned great dissatisfaction at Eome. A temporary 
success of Minucius, the master of the horse, caused the storm 
of indignation to break forth. In the assembly of tribes it was 
proposed to divide the command between Fabius and Minu- 
cius. The latter, eager for battle, soon gave an opportunity. 
The army of Minucius would have been annihilated had not 
Fabius come to his assistance. Minucius acknowledged his 
error and resumed his former position. Hannibal took up his 
winter quarters at Geronium. 

The cautious firmness of Fabius the Cundator, or the De- 
layer, had saved the state, and the crown of grass, 2 the highest 
military distinction, was awarded him by the senate. 

15. Roman Firmness. — During the winter the Eomans 
made great preparations. As yet all the allies remained faith- 
ful. The Greek cities sent presents and Hiero sent supplies 

1 The location of this defile has not been satisfactorily ascertained ; for Livy's account 
see book xxii. 10. 

2 Corona graminea. 



140 



THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 



[B.C. 216. 



and troops. The senate remained calm and firm, and even re- 
minded the Illyrians to pay their tribute, and ambassadors were 
sent to the king of Macedonia to demand the surrender of De- 
metrius of Pharos, who had taken refuge with him. The peo- 
ple, however, were impatient. The burdens of war pressed 
heavily. By the defeat of Flaminius, the nobility had gained 
the upper hand, and Fabius, as dictator, was to restore their 
ascendency. The popular party made violent opposition. As the 
elections approached, party spirit ran high. The popular candi- 
date, GL Terentius Varro, was elected, with Lucius iEniilius Paul- 
us, 1 a man of experience and military ability, as his colleague. 
16. Battle of Cannae (b. c. 216). — Hannibal had re- 
mained at Greronium until late in the spring, and then taken 
up a position at Cannae, on the south of the river Aufidus. 2 
The Eoman army 3 arrived at Cannae about the middle of June 
(b. c. 216), and pitched two camps, the larger on the right and 
the smaller on the left bank of the Aufidus. In the bend of 

1 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

M. iEMILITTS PAULUS, 

cos. B.C. 302. 



M. ^Emtlius Paulus, 
cos. b. c. 255. 



L. ^Emilius Paultts, 
cos. B.C. 219,216. 

Fell at Cannae. 



L. iEMILIUS Paulus Macedonicus, 

cos. b. c. 182. 168 ; died b. c. 160. 

m. Papibia, daughter of Papibius Maso, 

cos. b. c. 231. 



JEmxlia, m. P. Cornelius Scipio 
Africanus major. 



Elder son, adopted 
by Q. Fabius Max- 

IMUS iEMILIANUS. 



Younger son, adopt- JEmilia Prima 
ed by P. Cornelius m. Q. ^Elius Tu- 
Scipio, the son of bero. 
Scipio Africanus 
major \ became P. Cor- 
nelius Scipio Afri- 
canus minor (see p. 
170). 

2 His army numbered 40.000 foot and 10,000 horse. 

3 The army numbered nearly 90,000 ; 80,000 foot and 6,000 horse. 



^Emilia Secunda 
m. M. Porcius 
Cato, the son of 
M. Porcius Cato, 
the censor. 



b. c. 216.] 



THE SECOKD PUNIC WAR. 



141 



the river on the left bank Varro selected the battle-field. Leav- 
ing ten thousand men in the larger camp, he drew up his army, 
the legions in the middle in files of twice their usual depth, and 
the cavalry on the wings, 
with the right resting on 




the river. The Eoman 
cavalry on the right, com- 
posed of the sons of the 
noblest families, was com- 
manded by Paulus, and 
the cavalry of the allies on 
the left by Varro. Cn. 
Servilius, the consul of the 
preceding year, and Minu- 
cius led the legions in the 
centre. Hannibal drew up 
his infantry in the centre 
in a semicircle and placed 

on the left wing the Spanish and Gallic cavalry under Hasdru- 
bal, and the light Uumidian horse on the right under Hanno. 
The battle commenced almost simultaneously along the whole 
line. The onset of the Carthaginian cavalry was irresistible. 



A, first camp of the Romans. 

B, second or larger cump. 

C, the smaller camp. 

D, camp of Hannibal. 

E, scene of the battle. 

F, town or citadel of Cannae. 

G, Canusium. 

H, Bridge of Canusium. 



Aemilius 
A « 



The okder oe battle 

The Proconsul Varro 

■ ■■■■■■■MM -■■■—«--«■ ...........a. 

■ ■■■■■ B ■■■ m ■■■ .at ■■••■■■ ■ ]bi..i»iii»^ 

■ ■HKHHnaaa* ■■ ■ n ■ m a • • • ■ m * ■ m am m m m m m m ■■ u\f mm m « ■■ m 

""ti 



p B m I 

Hasdrubal Hannibal Hanno x 

A A, the right and left wing ; i and 1c, the cavalry ; g h, the light armed troops "before 
the line ; a be, the columns of infantry ; on the side of the Carthaginians, q q, the posi- 
tion of the Balearic slingers, archers, &c.; p m and n u, the cavalry on the wings; 11, 
the infantry ; o, the centre, the columns of infantry. 

The battle all along the line was terrible. The legions, en- 
gaged in front and attacked by the cavalry of Hasdrubal in 
the rear, were crowded upon each other and surrounded on all 
sides. Flight was impossible. No quarter was given. Seventy 



L Livy (xxii. 46) makes Maharbal command the right ; see Polybius iii. 114, § 7. 



14:2 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. [B. C. 216. 

thousand Komans strewed the field of battle. 1 Hannibal lost 
only six thousand in all. Paulus, the two consuls of the pre- 
ceding year, Minucius, about eighty senators, and many of the 
knights were among the slain. Varro escaped with a few 
horsemen to Venusia. 

17. The Spirit of the People. — When the news of this 
battle reached Rome, the people thought that the last day of 
the republic had come. The remnant of the senate met and 
sought with calmness to restore the public confidence. Party 
strife was hushed before the common danger. The old Eoman 
pride and stubbornness saved the commonwealth. Hannibal 
has been censured because he did not march after the victory, 
as Maharbal, the commander of the Numidian cavalry, urged, 
directly upon Rome. " If," said this officer, " you will let me 
lead the cavalry, within five days you shall dine in the capitol." 

18. Position of Hannibal in Italy. — Hannibal knew 
the Roman people better. He sent a commission to Rome to 
treat for exchange of prisoners and to open negotiations of 
peace. No one in Rome thought of peace. The messengers 
were not allowed to enter the city. Hannibal proceeded to 
Campania and sought to obtain in the conquest of some forti- 
fied town a new base of operation. He also hoped that now, 
at last, the Roman allies would join him. In this he was disap- 
pointed. The Roman and Latin colonies, the Greek cities, and 
the vast majority of Italian subjects remained faithful. In 
southern Italy a few tribes showed a willingness to revolt from 
Rome. 2 Capua and a few other walled towns fell into his hands. 
Hannibal sent Mago to Carthage with the report of his last 
great victory, while he himself took up his winter quarters in 
Capua. It has been said that his brave warriors became effemi- 
nate in this luxurious city, and lost their love of war ; in reality, 
however, Hannibal's superiority in the field remained as decided 
as ever. Henceforth the war was spread over a greater space. 



1 According to Livy (xxii, 49), the Romans lost 45,000 infantry, 2.700 cavalry killed ; 
3,030 infantry, and 1,500 cavalry taken in battle ; 2,000 taken at Cannae and 16,400 taken in 
the camps, a total loss of 71,100. Polybius (iii. 117) places the loss higher, or about 92,500 
in all ; the battle took place August 1st, or, according to the corrected calendar, in June, 

8 The Lucanians, Apulians, Bruttians, Caudinians, and Hirpinians, 



B. C. 218.] THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 143 

Difficulties began to multiply around his path. The series of 
great victories had culminated in Cannae, and it became yearly- 
more evident that the resources of Eome were superior to those 
of Carthage. 

19. The War in Spain (b. c. 218). — Publius Scipio, 1 
when he returned from Massilia to northern Italy, sent his 
brother Gnseus to Spain with a large part of the consular 
army. He acted with energy, and defeated Han no both by sea 
and land, and acquired possession of most of the country from 
the Pyrenees to the Ebro. Meanwhile Publius himself had 
been sent to Spain with an army of eight thousand men and 
thirty ships (B.C. 218). Even after the battle at Lake Trasi- 
menus, reinforcements were sent to Spain, the senate regarding 
it as important that the war should be waged there in order 
that no considerable force could be sent to Hannibal in Italy. 
The two brothers carried on the war with vigor. They availed 
themselves of the discontent among the different tribes to in- 

1 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 
L. Scipio, cos. b. c. 259. 



P. Scipio, Cn. Scipio Calvus, L. Scipio. 

cos. B.C. 218. cos. b. c. 222. I 

Killed in Spain, b. c. 211. Killed in Spain, b. c. 211. Cn. Scipio Hispallus, 

cos. B.C. 171. 



I 
Cn. Scipio Hispallus, 
prset. B.C. 139. 

I 
Cn. Scipio Hispallus. 



P. Scipio Afkicanus major, L. Scipio Asiaticus, 

cos. b. c. 205, 194, m. ^Emilia, cos. b. c. 190. 



I I I ■ I 

P. Scipio L. Scipio Cornelia, Cornelia, 

Africanus. Africanus. m. P. Scipio m. Tib. Grac- 

Nasica Cor- chus. 

CULUM. T . 

L. Scipio Asiaticus, 
P. Scipio ^Emilianus Africanus quaes, b. c. 167. 

minor (son of L. ^Emilius Paulus and 

adopted by P. Scipio Africanus), cos. t _ J 

b.c. 147, 134, married Sempronia, the L. Scipio Asiaticus. 

sister of the Gracchi (see p. 202). 

L. Scipio Asiaticus, 
cos, B, c, 83, 



144 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. [b. G. 215. 



duce them to throw off the dominion of Carthage. When 
Mago laid the news of Hannibal's great victories before the 
Carthaginian senators, they resolved to raise, for his assistance, 
twenty thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry in Spain. 
This the Scipios determined to prevent; they crossed the Ebro 
and inflicted so severe a blow on Hasdrubal in the battle of 
Ibera * that he was obliged to delay his plan of sending rein- 
forcements to Hannibal. The results of this victory probably 
saved the Eoman government ; it decided the wavering Spanish 
tribes in favor of Eome and prevented the Carthaginians from 
sending another army to reinforce Hannibal when he was in 
the full tide of success. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



The Second Punic War. — Second Period (B. C. 216-207). 
Siege of Syracuse (B. 0. 214-212). — War in Spain 
(B. 0. 215-206). 

1. Measures for Carrying on the War. — During the 
winter, while Hannibal was carrying on negotiations with the 
king of Macedonia and waiting for the co-operation of the 
Italians, Eome strained every nerve to raise a new army. All 
men of military age were called out. Prisoners and slaves were 
enrolled, and the whole city resounded with the preparations 
of war. Twenty-one legions were placed in the field 2 and a 
fleet of one hundred and fifty vessels was built. The year 
(b.c. 215) passed away without any decisive events. As no 
great accession of force came, Hannibal, having to protect 
Capua and southern Italy, acted on the defensive. Hasdru- 
bal was detained in Spain ; Philip, the king of Macedonia, 

1 The location of this town is unknown. 

2 Eight to keep Hannibal in check, three in the north against the Gauls, one at Brun- 
disium to act against the king of Macedonia, two to guard Rome, two in Sardinia, two 
in Sicily, and three in Spain, amounting in all to nearly 200,000 men. 



B. C. 214.] THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 145 

did not make the expected attack. Hannibal was also foiled 
in his attempt to get possession of Neapolis, Tarentum, and 
Puteoli. 

2. War in Sicily (b.c. 214-210). — Meanwhile events were 
occurring in Sicily that revived the hopes of Hannibal. Hiero, 
the faithful ally of Eome for nearly fifty years, died and his 
grandson, Hieronymus, a boy of fifteen, succeeded him. The 
new king immediately opened negotiations with Carthage. 
Hannibal, in order to encourage him, sent two of his own 
officers, Hippocrates and Epicydes, to Syracuse, to act as nego- 
tiators. The king, however, was assassinated after a reign 
of a few months, and the Eoman party in Syracuse gained 
the ascendency. Hannibal's envoys had to leave the city. 
They took refuge with the people of Leontini and urged them 
to assert their independence of Syracuse, and finally incited 
them to attack a military post of the Eomans. Marcellus, the 
Eoman prastor, without waiting for the co-operation of Syra- 
cuse, marched against Leontini, took the city by storm, and 
although he spared the inhabitants, inflicted severe punishment 
on the Eoman deserters that he found in the garrison. This 
act of brutality alienated the Syracusan soldiers and they joined 
Hippocrates and Epicydes. The gates of Syracuse were opened 
and the Carthaginian party had undisputed possession of the 
city. Marcellus appeared before Syracuse with a large army, 
and, failing to take it by storm, proceeded to lay siege to the 
city. On the land side the usual modes of attack 1 were 
directed against the walls, while sixty Eoman vessels, carrying 
wooden towers and battering-rams, attacked from the sea. 
These were driven back, and all efforts to capture the city 
were rendered unavailing by the skill of Archimedes. 2 Marcel- 
lus was compelled to turn the siege into a blockade. 

3. The Fall and Sack of Syracuse 3 (b.c. 212).— This 

1 See page 380 ff. 

2 Many stories are told of the wonderful and curious engines of war constructed by- 
Archimedes. It is said that the ships of the Romans were seized by iron hooks, partly 
raised from the water, and then dashed back to the dismay of the crews. The story 
that Archimedes fired the Roman vessels by wonderful reflecting mirrors is probably 
a fiction, since neither Polybius nor Livy mention it. 

3 The siege of Syracuse began probably near the end of the year b. c. 214, and the town 



146 



THE SECOND PUNIC WAE. [b. C. 212. 



gave the Carthaginians time to send reinforcements to Syracuse. 
Landing at Heraclea, they soon made themselves masters of 
Agngentum. The position of Marcellus was becoming critical 
when an unexpected attack on a part of the walls, left unguard- 
ed during a festival, made him master of the Epipolae with the 
quarters of Neapolis and Tycha. This was the condition of af- 
fairs when the Car- 



thaginian army ad- 
vanced to the relief 
of the city. The 
Roman army man- 
aged to keep its posi- 
tion. As summer 
approached a deadly 
disease broke out 
among the Carthagi- 
nian army which was 
encamped on the low 
ground by the river 
Anapus. After a 
great part of the 
men and officers 
had died the remain- 
der dispersed. In 
the meantime another revolution took place in Syracuse ; still 
Marcellus did not attempt to take the city by storm until a 
Spanish officer, commanding on the side of Ortygia, opened the 
gate. The next day the army, after a siege of two years, entered. 
Marcellus promised to spare the lives of the inhabitants, although 
the city itself was given up to plunder. Archimedes was slain, 
because he was too intent upon a mathematical problem to an- 
swer the question of a plundering soldier. 1 The numerous 
works of art which during so many centuries had been collected 




SYRACUSE 



was stormed in b. c. 213. Livy, however, assigns the storming of the town to the year 
B. c. 214 ; see Weissenborn's (Livy xxiv. 39) note. The text of Polybius is probably cor- 
rupt ; he says (viii. 9, §6) that the siege lasted only eight months. The town was taken 
jn the fall of b. c. 212. 

1 Archimedes called to the soldier in the well known words, noli turoare circulos meo$. 



B.C. 212.] THE SECOND PUKIC WAK. 147 



were sent to Some. 1 The fall of Syracuse gave the Eomans the 
upperhand in Sicily; still Hannibal's cavalry general, Matines, 
prolonged the war for two years. After Agrigentum fell, and 
the leaders were beheaded, the inhabitants sold as slaves, and 
the town sacked, the other towns submitted, and all resistance 
in Sicily to Eoman rule was at an end. 

4. War in Spain (b. c. 215-206).— After the successful 
campaign of the two Scipios in Spain, in B.C. 215, the Eomans 
continued the war, and overran the Carthaginian possessions. 
The Ebro was crossed, Saguntum was taken, and preparations 
were made for an attack on Africa. Syphax, a Numidian 
chief, was won over to their side. The Libyans began to 
desert Carthage in such numbers that Hasdrubal was recalled 
from Spain. He secured the alliance of another Numidian 
prince, Gula, 2 whose son, Masinissa, only seventeen years old, 
began his long career which was destined in the end to be so 
fatal to the Carthaginians. Syphax was defeated and Hasdrubal 
was able to return to Spain with large reinforcements (b.c. 212). 
Finding that the Eomans had divided their forces, Hasdrubal 
attacked each army in succession, and so thoroughly routed 
them that but few escaped, and the two Scipios were slain. 
Nearly all Spain was lost to the Eomans. The efforts of Eome 
to prevent the invasion of Italy from Spain had ended dis- 
astrously, and nothing seemed able to check the Carthaginian 
general if he intended to attack Italy from this quarter. The 
senate, however, resolved to make one more effort s and to 
entrust the command to Publius Cornelius Scipio, 4 then only 
twenty-seven years of age, who had only been sedile, and there- 
fore never invested 5 with any office to which the imperium 
was attached. In the autumn of B. c. 210 he set out on his 
hazardous mission. 

1 This was not the first instance of a practice that afterwards became so general. 
Tarentum and Volsinii, on their capture, had been plundered. These works of art taken 
from Syracuse were so much more numerous and valuable than any before that tradition 
(Liv. xxv. 40) assigns the beginning of the custom to Marcellus. 

2 King of the Massylians. A They sent 11,000 men. 

4 Livy (xxvi. 18) relates that when no one came forward to take the command in 
Spain, Scipio declared his willingness to assume the dangerous post, and inspired the, 
people with confidence and courage, 

5 See p. 50. 



148 the second pukic war. [b. c. 214. 

5. The Success of Scipio. — Landing at Emporiae he 
took up his winter quarters in Tarraco, where, with the utmost 
secresy, 1 he prepared for the coming campaign. Fortune favored 
him from the first. Learning that the three Carthaginian ar- 
mies 2 were a long distance from New Carthage, in the early 
spring of 207 B.C. he appeared unexpectedly before this city, 
which, after a short siege, fell into his hands, with all its 
stores, engines and materials for war. Scipio, following up this 
success, attacked Hasdrubal at Baecula in Andalusia. . The re- 
sults, 3 however, were so far favorable to Hasdrubal that he was 
able to carry into execution his long-delayed plan of reinforcing 
his brother in Italy. His departure left Spain an easy conquest 
for Scipio. In the year B.C. 206 Scipio, marching southward, 
met a second time the Carthaginian army under another Hasdru- 
bal, the son of Gisgo, at Baecula 4 and totally defeated it. The Span- 
ish levies fell off, and Hasdrubal escaped almost alone to Gades, 
the only place in Spain left in the hands of the Carthaginians. 
6. Scipio's Interview with Syphax. — This decided 
victory not only caused the spirit of disaffection to spread 
among the Spanish tribes, but even among the African troops. 
Masinissa, the brave Numidian prince who had rendered im- 
portant services against Syphax, thinking that the cause of 
Carthage was lost, and fascinated by the influence of Scipio, 
secretly promised aid to the Komans. According to Livy, 
Scipio crossed to Africa with only two quinqueremes and spent 
some days at the court of Syphax, where he accidentally met 
Hasdrubal, the son of Gisgo. 5 During his absence some of the 
Spanish tribes revolted, and a body of eight thousand Eoman 
soldiers, who complained that their pay had been withheld, 
mutinied. This rebellion was quickly subdued, and before the 

1 He only communicated his plans to his friend G. Laelius, the father of the Lafilius 
whose friendship for the younger Africanus, Cicero has rendered so celebrated. 

2 Hasdrubal Barca was in Castile ; Mago was at the Straits of Gibraltar, and Hasdru- 
bal, the son of Gisgo, on the Tagus with an army of 25,000 infantry, and 2,500 cavalry. 

3 Livy (xxvii. 18 f .) asserts that Hasdrubal was defeated with loss of 20,000 men. 

* Livy (xxviii. 12) calls the place also Silpia, which is probably the same place that 
Polybius (xi. 20) calls Ilipa (in the MS. Elinga). 

5 The voyage of Scipio to Africa and the succession of events for the year b. c. 206 
have been exposed to serious doubts. Weissenborn (note to Livy, xxviii. 16, 14) assigns 
a part of the events to the year b. c. SOT. The mutiny of the army probably took place 
miring the illness of Scipio. 



B.C. 211.] THE SECOXD PUNIC WAK. 149 

close of the year (b. c. 216) Gacles fell into the hands of the 
Eomans, and Spain was lost to the Carthaginians. 

7. The War in Italy (b.c 214-203).— While these events 
were going on in Spain and Sicily, Hannibal made no real 
progress in Italy. Two years of indecisive warfare passed, in 
which Hannibal tried to capture Tarentum, and the Komans 
to recover Capua. In the year b. c. 212 Hannibal's efforts were 
crowned with success, and Tarentum was betrayed into his 
hands. This enabled him to turn his attention to Capua. By 
a brilliant campaign he relieved Capua, and scattered the Bo- 
man armies in southern Italy. Still Eoman perseverance held 
out. There was no thought of peace. 

8. The Siege of Capua. — The next year (b. c. 211), the 
Eoman armies marched toward the doomed town. When the 
news reached Hannibal, he appeared once more on the ridge of 
Mount Tifata and made an attack upon the Eoman line. This 
time the Eomans were too numerous. Compelled to give up 
the attempt to raise the blockade of Capua by a direct attack 
on the Eoman lines, he changed his plan, and marched directly 
upon Eome. Plundering the country as he advanced, he spread 
terror and dismay everywhere on his path. At his approach, the 
city, although well garrisoned, was filled with alarm. A part of 
the army was recalled from Capua, and marching directly by 
the Appian road reached Eome as soon as Hannibal. His plan, 
however, did not succeed ; the siege of Capua was not raised, 
and the Eomans, acting strictly on the defensive, gave no op- 
portunity for battle. In the meantime the fate of Capua was 
sealed. All the leading men in the town were beheaded ; the 
people were sold as slaves. Capua could no longer hope to rival 
Eome ; she was blotted from the list of Italian towns. The 
right of local self-government was withdrawn, and a prefect 
was annually sent from Eome to govern the district. 

9. Movements of Hannibal. — The conquest of Capua 
was the turning point in the war. Hannibal lost his strong- 
hold in Campania and was obliged to retire to the southern 
part of Italy. Eome was gaining everywhere. The Italians 
who had joined Hannibal began to lose confidence, Silapia and, 



150 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. [b. C. 209. 

many towns in Samnium were betrayed to the Komans. But 
when Fulvius, the proconsul who commanded in Apulia, ap- 
peared before Herdonea, which he hoped to gain possession of 
by treachery, Hannibal marched from Bruttium, attacked the 
Boman army, and gained a brilliant victory. In the following 
year x the Eomans recovered several places in Lucania and Brut- 
tium, and Fabius Maximus crowned his long military career 
with the recapture of Tarentum (b. c. 209). The inhabitants 
were sold as slaves ; the town was plundered and the works of 
art were sent to Eome. The next year Marcellus, for the fifth 
time elected to the consulship, was surprised near Venusia and 
killed. Hannibal paid suitable honors to the remains of his 
great opponent. This defeat taught the Komans to adhere to 
their old plan of avoiding pitched battles, and to limit their 
operations to the capture of the places that had been lost. In 
this way Hannibal, although unconquered, was pushed back 
into narrower and narrower limits. 

10. Movements of Hasdrubal.— The war had lasted ten 
years, yet its favorable conclusion seemed far off. There were 
increasing symptoms of discontent among the allies, while the 
news from Spain left little doubt that the long prepared expe- 
dition of Hasdrubal over the Alps to join his brother in 
Italy was at last to be realized. Borne strained every nerve to 
meet the impending danger. The number of legions was in- 
creased from twenty-one to twenty-three. The preparations 
were incomplete, when the news came that Hasdrubal was 
crossing the Alps by the same route which his brother had 
taken eleven years before. The consuls for the new year were 
M. Livius Salinator and G-. Claudius Nero. Hannibal, at the 
beginning of spring, after organizing his force in Bruttium, 
advanced northward, encountered the consul Nero at Grumen- 

1 In this year an event happened that showed in how exhausted a condition the peo- 
ple were, and how near Hannibal was to the attainment of his expectation— the disaffec- 
tion of the Latin towns. When the consuls in b. c. 209 called upon the Latins to furnish 
more men and money, twelve of the thirty Latin colonies declared that their resources 
were exhausted. Thus far Rome had been saved by the firm adhesion of the Latin 
towns, but now the fabric seemed on the point of crumbling to pieces. All depended on 
the action of the other eighteen colonies. Fortunately their decision was favorable ; 
they declared that. they were not only willing to furnish their contingent of troops, but 
even more. 



B. C. 207.] THE SECOKD PUNIC WAK. 151 

turn, from whence, after a bloody but indecisive battle, he 
continued his march to Canusium. Here he waited for news 
from his brother. The expected despatch was intercepted by- 
Nero, who formed the bold resolution of joining his colleague 
in the north, and with their united armies crushing Hasdrubal 
while Hannibal was waiting for the expected despatch. 

Hasdrubal had appointed a rendezvous with his brother in 
Umbria, from whence with their united armies they were to 
advance on Narnia and Eome. 

11. The Battle of Metaurus (b.c. 207).— Nero, selecting 
from his army seven thousand of the best soldiers and one 
thousand cavalry, left his camp so quietly that Hannibal knew 
nothing of his departure. Near Sena he found his colleague 
Livius, and in the night entered his camp that his arrival 
might not be known to the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal, when 
he heard the trumpet sound twice from the Eoman camp and 
saw the increased numbers, was no longer ignorant that both 
consuls were in front of him. Thinking that his brother had 
been defeated, he resolved to retire across the Metaurus and 
wait for accurate information. Missing his way, wandering up 
and down the river to find a ford, pursued and attacked by the 
Eomans, he was compelled to accept battle. Although in an 
unfavorable position, a deep river in his rear, his troops ex- 
hausted by marching all night, still the victory long hung in 
suspense. Hasdrubal displayed all the qualities of a great 
general, and when he saw that all was lost, he plunged into the 
thickest of the battle and was slain. 1 The consul returned to 
Apulia with the same rapidity with which he had come. He 
announced to Hannibal the defeat and death of his brother by 
casting Hasdrubal's head within the outposts and by sending 
two Carthaginian captives to give him an account of the dis- 
astrous battle. "I foresee the doom of Carthage," 2 said Han- 
nibal sadly, when he recognized the bloody head of his brother. 

12. Hannibal Retreats to Bruttium. — This battle de- 

1 According to Livy (xxvii. 49) the Carthaginians lost 56,000 killed and 5,400 prisoners, 
and the Romans only 8,000 ; the estimate of Poly bins (xi. 3) seems more reasonable, i. e< 
that the Carthaginians lost 10,000, and the Romans 2,000. 

2 Livy, xxvii. 51. 



152 THE SECOND PUNIC WAK. [B. C. 206. 

cided the war in Italy. Hannibal withdrew his garrisons from 
the towns in southern Italy, retired to the peninsula of Brut- 
tium, where for four long years, in that wild and mountainous 
country, with unabated courage and astounding tenacity, the 
dying lion clung to the land that had been so long the theatre 
of his glory. 



♦• •» ♦♦ 



CHAPTER XXITST. 

Second Punic Wak— The Third Period (B. C. 206-201). 

1. Scipio's Expedition to Africa. — A favorable termi- 
nation of the war seemed near at hand. The time had come 
to carry into execution that expedition to Africa which Sem- 
pronius had attempted in the beginning of the war. Publius 
Scipio, on his return from Spain, offered himself for the con- 
sulship and was unanimously elected. His design was to carry 
the war into Africa and in this way compel Carthage to recall 
Hannibal. The senate, headed by the aged Pabius Maximus, 
was not favorable to his plan. The people, however, were 
unanimous that the conduct of the war must be entrusted to 
Scipio, and that it must be finished in Africa. The senate 
finally consented that he should cross from his province of 
Sicily to Africa, but they voted no adequate means for such an 
expedition. Scipio called for volunteers. The whole of the 
year b. c. 205 passed away before he completed his preparations. 

2. Efforts to Help Hannibal. — Meanwhile the Cartha- 
ginians made one last effort to help Hannibal. Mago, Hanni- 
bal's youngest brother, was sent to Liguria with fourteen thou- 
sand men to rouse the Ligurians and Gauls to renew the war 
on Rome ; but having met a Eoman army under Quintilius 
Varus, and being wounded in the engagement which followed, 
his movements were so crippled, that nothing of importance 
was accomplished, 



B.C. 202.] THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 153 

3. War in Africa. — In the spring of b. c. 204 Scipio had 
completed his preparations. He embarked his army 1 from 
Lilybseum, and after three days landed at the Fair Promontory 
near Utica. After laying siege to Utica all summer, he was 
compelled to fall back and entrench himself on the promontory. 
Masinissa had joined him immediately on his arrival. By his 
advice Scipio planned a night attack on Hasdrubal, the son of 
Gisgo, and Syphax, who were encamped near Utica. This 
enterprise was completely successful. A short time afterwards 
Hasdrubal and Syphax were again defeated. Syphax fled to 
Numidia, where he was followed by Laelius and Masinissa and 
compelled to surrender. 2 

4. Efforts for Peace. — These successes convinced the 
Carthaginians that with the existing forces the Koman invasion 
could not long be resisted. They opened therefore with Scipio 
negotiations for peace, in order probably to gain time to recall 
their generals from Italy. The desire of Scipio to bring the 
war to a conclusion induced him to agree upon preliminaries of 
peace, subject to the approval of the Koman senate and people. 
Carthage was to give up all prisoners and deserters, resign all 
claim to Spain and the islands between Africa and Italy, recall 
Hannibal and Mago from Italy, acknowledge Masinissa as king 
of Numidia, deliver up their ships-of-war except twenty, and 
pay five thousand talents to defray the expenses of the war. 
According to the conditions of the armistice, Hannibal and 
Mago were recalled from Italy, and the Eoman prisoners were 
released in expectation that the conditions of peace would be 
accepted. When the Carthaginian ambassadors appeared before 
the senate they were dismissed almost without an answer, be- 
cause the capture of Syphax had convinced this body that Car- 
thage, deprived of her most powerful ally, would not be able to 
continue the war. Meanwhile the arrival of Hannibal at 
Hadrumetum had so encouraged the Carthaginians that the 
armistice had been broken before the return of the ambassadors 



1 The strength of the army is variously estimated from 12,509 to 35,000. The Cartha- 
ginian force is estimated at 33,000 ; the Numidian at 60,000. 

2 This was a great gain, as now Numidia united with Rome against Carthage. 



154 THE SECOND PUNIC WAK. [b. C. 201. 

from Eome. 1 All hopes of peace by negotiation vanished, and 
Scipio prepared to renew the war, which, since the arrival of 
Hannibal, had assumed a more serious character. 

5. The Battle of Zama.— The details of the operations 
which ended in the battle of Zama are but imperfectly known. 
The decisive battle was fought on the river Bagradas, near 
Zama, 2 on the 19th of October, b. c. 202. Hannibal managed 
the battle with his usual skill. His veterans fought like the 
men who had so often conquered in Italy, but his army was an- 
nihilated. The elephants were rendered unavailing by Scipio ? s 
skillful management. Instead of the three lines of battle, with 
the usual intervals, 3 Scipio arranged his companies behind 
each other like the rounds of a ladder. 4 Through these open- 
ings the elephants could pass without breaking the line. This 
battle terminated the long struggle. Carthage had for a long 
time been exhausted and overcome, but with the madness of 
despair had fought on. The superior perseverance and stub- 
bornness of the Eoman people had won the victory before the 
battle of Zama. Hannibal himself advised peace. The terms 
were not so favorable as before. Besides the conditions already 
prescribed, and the increase of the war-contribution to an an- 
nual payment of two hundred talents for fifty years, Carthage 
was bound not to wage war either in Africa or elsewhere with- 
out the consent of Eome. 

6. Triumph of Scipio. — Scipio returned to Eome, where a 
splendid triumph awaited him. All that witnessed the tri- 
umphal procession winding along the via sacra, up the divas 
capitolinus to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, joined the 
youthful hero, henceforth called Publius Cornelius Scipio Afri- 
canus, in returning thanks to the gods that the Hannibalian 
war 5 was ended. 

1 According to lime (vol. ii., p. 445) the action of the senate in regard to the treaty 
reached Carthage before the return or the embassy, and thus restored the ascendancy 
of the war party in Carthage, and dispelled all hopes of peace. 

2 According to Appian (viii. 41) Hannibal had 50,000 men and 80 elephants ; Scipio, 
34,500 in addition to the Numidians ; Polybius (xv. 14, § 6) says both armies were equal 
in infantry. The place and time of the battle are both uncertain. The date is usually 
fixed by means of the solar eclipse, mentioned by Zonoras (ix. 14) as taking place on the 
day of the battle ; according to Mommsen (vol. ii., p. 196, note) the battle took place in 
the spring. 

a $ee page 3§6 f. * Ihne, vol. ii., p. 451. 5 Polvbius, ix. 33, 



B. C. 214.] THE SECOKD PUNIC WAR. 155 

7. The Results of the War. — The results of the war were 
that Carthage became a dependent state ; the native tribes of 
Africa were admitted to an alliance with Borne. The Eoman 
dominion was increased by the accession of Spain, which was 
formed into two provinces, and by the territory of Syracuse, 
which was added to the province of Sicily. The supremacy of 
the sea was transferred to Kome, and the way opened by the 
hostilities with Macedonia for the great conflict with the East. 

8. The Romanizing of Italy. — In the meantime Kome, 
true to her policy of first securing what had been gained, 
turned her attention to the subjugation of the revolted tribes 
in Italy. The Cisalpine Gauls were subdued and the fetters 
were riveted more firmly over the states in southern Italy 
that had joined Hannibal. Large tracts of land were confis- 
cated, the old colonies strengthened and new ones founded, 1 
and an effort made to extend the dominion and influence of 
Eome, the Latin language and Latin customs, throughout all 
Italy, and to weld the different peoples into one nationality. 
The great Flaminian way 2 was extended to Placentia, and the 
Cassian from Eome to Arretium was reconstructed and ex- 
tended 3 to Bononia. The whole country was in process of being 
Eomanized. The colony of Aquileja was founded to protect 
the eastern border (b.c. 183), the Istrians were subdued (b. c. 
177), and the wandering Gauls who had crossed the Alps were 
driven back and compelled henceforth to keep within proper 
bounds. The contest with the Ligurians was severer, and it was 
not until B. c. 143 that the Eomans gained a firm hold of the 
country. The work of subjugation was carried on by extend- 
ing (b. c. 109) the great highway along the coast from Luna 
to Vada Sabata ( Vado) and thence over the Apennines to Der- 
tona (Tortona). Gallia Cisalpina, however, was probably not 
formed into a province until the time of Sulla. 

1 Yenusia (b. c. 200) and Narnia (b. c. 199) strengthened ; Sipontum, Croton, Saler- 
num, Thurii, henceforth called Copia, Puteoli (b. c. 194) and Aquileja (b.c. 183) founded 
to secure the command of the Gulf. 

2 Under the name of ^Bmilian way, b. c. 187. 3 b. c, 171, 



156 THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST. [B. C. 219. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The Conquest of the East (B. C. 214—146). 

1. Condition of the East.— The diffusion of Hellenic 
civilization and culture in the East which Alexander, the 
king of Macedonia, had begun, was carried out by means of 
colonies and trading-posts which were scattered oyer the vast 
empire which he had conquered. After his death this empire 
was rent to pieces by his generals, and finally, after a long 
struggle and various vicissitudes, resolved itself into the fol- 
lowing kingdoms : 

1. Macedonia, governed by Philip V., whose dominion ex- 
tended over a great part of Greece. 

2. Syria, ruled by Antiochus III., extended from the coast 
of the Mediterranean to the Indus, although many provinces 
within this limit were in a state of practical independence. 
In Asia Minor, Galatia and Pontus were governed by native 
princes, while the kings of Pergamus ruled over most of the 
western part. 

3. Egypt, embracing the valley of the Mle, the provinces 
of Palestine, Phoenicia and Coele-Syria, together with the Greek 
city of Cyrene, the island of Cyprus, and many islands in the 
iEgean sea and towns on the coast of Thrace, was governed by 
the Ptolemies, and formed a compact and united state. The 
kings, instead of trying to extend their territory, had sought to 
attract the traffic between India and the Mediterranean to the 
port of Alexandria. By this means they hoped to make Egypt 
a leading commercial state, and the mistress of the eastern 
Mediterranean. They had, as early as B. c. 273, entered into 
friendly relations with Eome. In B. c. 205 the throne descended 
to Ptolemy V., Epiphanes, then a child only four years old. 
His minister, dreading the designs of the Macedonian and Sy- 
rian kings, had sought the protection of the Roman senate. 



158 THE CONQUEST OE THE EAST. [b. C. 214. 

2. The Free Greek Cities. — The most important posi- 
tion among the minor states was held by the free Greek cities 
on the shore of- the Propontis, along the coast of Asia Minor, 
and on the islands of the iEgean sea. Among these may be 
mentioned : 

1. Byzantium, the mistress of the Bosporus, which had grown 
rich from her fayorable position and trade with the towns on 
the Black Sea. 

2. Cyzicus, on the Propontis, was one of the marts for the 
yast trade of the interior, and soon attained an independent 
and important position. 

3. B/iodes. This republic was the chief maritime power in 
the iEgean Sea. From its favorable position it had secured 
much of the carrying-trade of the eastern Mediterranean. Its 
vessels entered, without port-dues, the Bosporus and the Black 
Sea. Ehodes took an active part in defending the Greek cities, 
and as a protection against Macedonia had formed a commer- 
cial treaty with Eome. 

3. The Achaean and .ZBtolian Leagues. — In Greece 
proper two new powers had arisen since the death of Alexander, 
which served as a counterpoise to Macedonia, and might have 
been of great service to the Greek nation had they not, by in- 
ternal dissensions, inflicted more injury than good. The more 
important was the Achaean League which embraced Corinth, 
Arcadia, and a greater part of the Peloponnesus, and which 
sought to unite the best elements of the Greek nation in a 
league for self-defence. The iEtolian League included a great 
part of Central Greece. The Romans, during the second Punic 
war, had availed themselves of the hostility of the iEtolian 
League to Macedonia, and entered into an alliance with it 
(b. c. 212), and by this means occupied Philip at home while they 
crushed Carthage. Athens and Sparta still retained their inde- 
pendence, but only a shadow of their former power. 

4. First Macedonian War (b. c. 214-205).— It w^ill be 
recollected that Demetrius of Pharos 1 took refuge with Philip 

1 See page 132. 



B. c. 200.] thU conquest of the east. 159 

and urged him to make war on Home. After the battle of 
Cannae the king sent an embassy to Hannibal, offering assist- 
ance, but the ambassadors being captured by the Romans the 
alliance was not concluded until b. c. 215. Philip's fleet ap- 
peared in the Adriatic, captured Oricum and laid siege to Apol- 
lonia, which, since the Illyrian war, had been in possession of 
the Romans. The Romans sent M. Valerius Laevinus with a 
small force to the Adriatic ; he recaptured Oricum, raised the 
siege of Apollonia, stormed the Macedonian camp at night, and 
compelled Philip to burn his ships to prevent them from falling 
into the hands of the Romans. This overthrew his scheme of 
invasion and so frightened him that for three years he sus- 
pended active operations. In B. c. 211 Laevinus appeared at 
the assembly of the iEtolians and promised them aid in a war 
against Philip. This gave the war a new aspect, and so occu- 
pied Philip that he was compelled to seek assistance from Car- 
thage instead of co-operating with Hannibal. The attention 
of the Romans, however, was so occupied with affairs in Spain 
that the iEtolians were left almost alone to cope with Philip, 
and, being hard-pressed, they made a separate treaty (b. c. 206). 
The Romans, who wished to have their hands free for the inva- 
sion of Africa, soon after also consented to peace (b. c. 205). 

5. Second Macedonian War (b. c. 200-196).— Philip 
now had an opportunity to consolidate his power in Greece and 
restore the prosperity of his kingdom and prepare for the 
struggle with Rome, which both sides regarded as inevitable. 
Instead of doing this, he entered into an alliance with Antio- 
chus, king of Syria, 1 for the dismemberment of the territories 
of the king of Egypt, who at once applied to Rome for assist- 
ance. Soon after he plunged into a war with Attalus, king 
of Pergamus, and with the Rhodians. 2 He even sent a force of 
four thousand soldiers to Africa who fought at the battle of 
Zama under the command of Hannibal. Philip was still pur- 
suing his policy in the east when the peace with Carthage left 
Rome at liberty to succor her eastern allies. An embassy was 

1 B. c. 205. 2 B. c. 203. 



160 THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST. [b. C. 19?. 

sent to mediate between Antiochus and Ptolemy, and Philip 
was warned to give up the Egyptian dependencies that had 
fallen into his hands, and not to attack the Greek cities. He 
was still engaged in these ambitious schemes, 1 when an event 
growing out of the hostility of Macedonia to Athens furnished 
the Romans the pretext for a declaration of war. 

6. The Cause of the War. — It happened that two Acar- 
nanian youths had been put to death in Attica for intruding upon 
the Eleusinian mysteries. The Acarnanians, exasperated by 
this outrage, laid their complaints before the king of Mace- 
donia, their ally and protector. He encouraged them to make 
war upon Attica and lay waste the country with fire and 
sword. The Athenians immediately sent an embassy to Eome 2 
asking assistance against the Acarnanians and the king of 
Macedonia. The senate sent an embassy 3 to Philip to declare 
war unless he desisted from hostilities against the Greek cities 
and gave up the possessions of Ptolemy which he had seized. 
When Philip replied that the Romans should observe the terms 
of the treaty, but if they were bent on war, they should have it, 
the declaration was determined upon. 4 

7. The Battle of Cynocephalae (b. c. 197).— After two 
unsuccessful and indecisive campaigns, T. Quinctius Flamini- 
nus was sent to Greece. He was an able general and a skillful 
diplomatist, and, by proclaiming himself the champion of Greek 
freedom, succeeded in uniting almost the whole of Greece 
against Macedonia. He carried on the war with energy and 
vigor and in B.C. 197 met Philip at Cynocephake and com- 
pletely defeated him. Philip was now glad to make peace on 
any terms. He was compelled, in addition to the demands 
already made, 5 to surrender all his navy except five ships, re- 
duce his army to five thousand men, and pay a war indemnity 
ot one thousand talents. 6 After the conclusion of peace the 

1 Against Egypt, Rhodes, and Attalus. 

2 The Athenians had entered into friendly relations with Rome as early as b, c. 228, 
and in the peace of b. c. 205 were mentioned as Roman allies. 

3 The embassy visited Athens and Egypt, and remonstrated with Philip, who was still 
engaged in the siege of Abydos. 

4 Livy xxxi. 18. 6 See§6. 
6 About 244,000 pounds sterling. 



B.C. 192.] THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST. 161 

Soman garrisons were withdrawn from the Greek towns, and at 
the ensuing Isthmian games Flamininus ordered the herald to 
proclaim the independence of all Greece. 1 

8. The Syro-iEtolian War (b. c. 192-189).— While the 
Eomans were engaged in Greece, Antiochus, instead of co-op- 
erating with Philip, thought it best to take this opportunity 
to extend his own territories. He conquered Coele-Syria, 
Phoenicia, and Palestine, advanced even into Asia Minor, took 
Ephesus, and proceeded to conquer Thrace. Here a Eoman 
embassy met him, which declared that he must surrender all 
his conquests in Asia Minor, recognize the independence of the 
Greek cities, and not send any more troops into Europe. An- 
tiochus asserted his claim to Thrace, 2 and denied the right of 
Eome to interfere in his affairs. The negotiations were broken 
off by the return of the king to Syria on a rumor of the death 
of Ptolemy, the young king of Egypt (b. c. 196). 

9. The Plans of Hannibal. — The next year Hannibal 
found refuge at the court of the Syrian king at Ephesus. From 
that time forth Antiochus made active preparations for war. 
After the defeat at Zama, Hannibal had counseled peace and 
devoted all his energies to promote the welfare of his country. 
He introduced changes into the constitution, depriving the 
oligarchy of their power, and reformed the financial adminis- 
tration. The senate sent an embassy to Carthage to inquire 
into these changes and assist the aristocratic party in their 
opposition to these reforms. .Hannibal, seeing that it was 
useless to resist the threatening storm, escaped from his native 
town and visited Antiochus at Ephesus. Here he was received 
with great honors (b. c. 195), and urged on the king to a w^ar 
against Eome, and to raise an army for the invasion of Italy. 

10. The Intrigues of the -ffitolians. — Meanwhile the in- 
ternal dissensions in Greece increased. The JStolians, dissat- 
isfied with the terms of the last peace, and believing that the 

1 That the Roman senate, and Titus Quinctius Flamininus, the general and pro-consul, 
having vanquished king Philip and the Macedonians, restore liberty, their own lives and 
privileges, without foreign garrisons or tribute, to the Corinthians, Locrians, Phocians, 
Euboeans, Achaeans, Phthiotians, Magnesians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebeans.— Plut, 
Flamin. 10. 

* Thrace had belonged to Seleucus, his ancestor. 



162 THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST. [B. C. 190. 

success of the Eomans was chiefly due to their own efforts, 
began now to intrigue against them, to encourage Nabis the 
tyrant of Sparta to make war on the Achaeans, and finally invited 
Antiochus over from Asia, representing to him that all Greece 
was ready to join his standard. When the news reached Home 
that Antiochus had landed in Greece, war was immediately 
declared (b. c. 192), and the following year an army crossed to 
Greece under command of Marcus Acilius Glabrio. The king 
had entrenched himself at Thermopylae, but when a detach- 
ment under Marcus Porcius Cato surprised the iEtolians and 
put them to flight, the king fled in all haste to Chalcis and then 
to Ephesus. The iEtolians were now left to bear the brunt of 
the war. They attempted further resistance at Naupactus, but 
by the influence of Flamininus they were admitted to capitula- 
tion. 

11. The Battle of Magnesia (b. c. 190).— The next year 
the Eoman army under Scipio, after the fleet had gained the 
mastery of the sea, 1 proceeded to follow Antiochus across the 
Hellespont. The two armies met at Magnesia, and the Eomans 
gained an easy victory, which ended the war. The king had 
to cede all of Asia w r est of the Taurus range, to give up his 
elephants and reduce his fleet to ten ships, and to promise not 
to sail west of the mouth of the river Calycadnus in Cilicia. 
He had also to pay the sum of fifteen thousand talents, 2 and 
to surrender Hannibal. Most of this vast territory was added 
to the kingdom of Pergamus. Scipio returned to Borne, where 
a splendid triumph awaited him, and in imitation of his brother 
he assumed the surname of Asiaticus. 

12. Death of Hannibal. — Hannibal, after the conclusion 
of peace, fled to Crete, and from thence to Prusias, king of 
Bithynia. When this king could no longer protect him, he 
drank poison to escape falling into the hands of the Romans 
(B.C. 183). 

13. The Third -ffitolian "War (b. c. 189).— The Eomans 
now had leisure to punish the iEtolians. The consul Marcus 

1 At Corycus. 2 About £20,000,000. 



B.C. 179.] THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR. 163 

Fulvius Nobilior landed at Apollonia (b. c. 189) and began the 
third war against them. iEtolia was ravaged on every side ; 
but when Ambraeia the chief town was taken, the works of 
art transported to Rome, the iEtolian confederacy gave up the 
contest and sued for peace. Henceforth iEtolia, like Mace- 
donia, became tributary to Rome, renounced all conquests re- 
cently made, and gave up the right to make war or peace with- 
out the consent of Rome. 

14. The Achaean League. — The degradation of iEtolia was 
favorable to the growth of the Achaean league. Under the able 
management of Philopoemen, the Greek states so far forgot their 
petty jealousies that all Peloponnesus united with this league. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



The Third Macedonian War — The Achaean Exiles — Cap- 
ture of Corinth — Macedonia Reduced to a Province. 

1. Ungenerous Policy towards Macedonia. — Philip 
had been induced to co-operate in the war against Antiochus 
in prospect of being able to extend his dominions. When his 
assistance was no longer needed and he proceeded to take pos- 
session of the iEtolian towns, complaints, directly encouraged 
by Eome herself, were sent in on all sides, and he was com- 
pelled to give up all his conquests and confine himself to the 
limits of ancient Macedonia. In the negotiations which fol- 
lowed, Philip was treated with great harshness and contempt. 
Still there was no course open to him but war or submission. 
He chose the latter, but with the firm determination to pre- 
pare for the day of revenge. 

2. The Battle of Pydna (b.c. 168).— In b.c. 179 Philip 
died, and was succeeded by his son Perseus, who prosecuted 
with great energy and skill the aim which his father so long 
had kept in view. From new sources of revenue open to him 



164 THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST. [b. C. 168. 

in mines, customs, and tenths, and from the flourishing con- 
dition of agriculture and commerce, Perseus was enabled to 
raise and discipline his army. A change had taken place eyen 
among the Greeks, who no longer regarded the Eomans as the 
liberators of their country, but as its enemies. Perseus was be- 
coming daily more popular. The economic degradation of 
Greece was frightful, and the class which lived by spoil and 
plunder was growing daily larger. The result was that Perseus 
was soon at the head of a larger army, but now his good 
genius seemed to forsake him, and by his parsimony and ill- 
timed measures he disgusted his allies, and instead of prompt 
and vigorous action pursued a policy of procrastination. The 
time had come, however, for Borne to put an end to the partial 
state of independence in which the Greek nation still existed. 1 
A Eoman army landed in Epirus in B.C. 171 and first succeeded 
in detaching the allies of Perseus. A battle followed, in which 
Perseus was victorious, but still with unaccountable inactivity, 
he made no use of his victory. In b. c. 168 L. iEmilius Pau- 
lus defeated Perseus at Pydna, 2 and soon afterwards took him 
prisoner. This was the end of the war. 

3. Macedonia in Nominal Independence. — Macedonia 
was not at once reduced to a province like Sicily, but was di- 
vided into four parts, each of which governed itself and was 
independent from the other three. 3 An annual tribute 4 was 

1 Eumenes, the king of Pergamus, preferred the formal charges against Perseus 
which led to the declaration of war. On his return from Rome, Eumenes was attacked 
by four assassins hired by Perseus, and badly wounded. 

2 Polybius (xxxii. 11, 6) dates from this battle the establishment of the universal em- 
pire of Rome. It was in fact the last battle in which a civilized state confronted Rome 
in the field on a footing of equality with her as a great power ; all subsequent struggles 
were rebellions or wars with peoples beyond the pale of the Romano-Greek civilization 
—the barbarians, as they were called. The whole civilized world thenceforth recognized 
in the Roman senate the supreme tribunal, whose commissioners decided in the last 
resort between kings and nations ; and, to acquire its language and manners, foreign 
princes and noble youths resided in Rome. A palpable and earnest attempt to get rid of 
her dominion was in reality made only once — by the great Mithridates of Pontus. The 
battle of Pydna, moreover, makes the last occasion on which the senate still adhered to 
the state maxim, that they should, if possible, hold no possessions and maintain no gar- 
risons beyond the Italian seas, but should keep the numerous states dependent on them 
by a mere political supremacy. Indications of a change of system, and of an increasing 
disinclination on the part of Rome to tolerate by its side intermediate states, even in 
such independence as was possible for them, was clearly given in the destruction of the 
Macedonian monarchy after the battle of Pydna.— Mommsen, vol. ri., p. 330. 

3 The form of government was settled by the proconsul ^Emilius Paulus and a com- 
mission of ten. The four divisions were deprived of the jus connubii and jus commercii 
among one another. Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, and Pelagonia were made the 
capitals of the four divisions. 

4 One-half of the amount which the kings had exacted. 



B. C. 151.] THE OTHER GREEK STATES. 165 

laid upon the Macedonians, in return for which Eome under- 
took the defence of the country and to relieve the people from 
military service. 1 In order to secure the permanency of this 
form of government, all the most prominent men of the coun- 
try, all who had served the king in any capacity, were trans- 
ported with their grown up sons to Italy. Paulus on his return 
celebrated the most magnificent triumph 2 Rome had ever seen. 
4. Treatment of the Other States. — The other states 
of Greece were treated in the same manner, 3 being obliged to 
pay as tribute one-half the sum hitherto paid in taxes, and the 
most noted men were sent to Italy. Eome now had time to 
look to the states of the East. Ehodes, which had offered her 
mediation during the war, was stripped of its most valuable 
dependencies, and compelled to seek an alliance with Eome ; 
Eumenes of Pergamus was humbled, and Antiochus of Syria, 
who had commenced war with Egypt for the possession of Ooele- 
Syria, was commanded to leave Egypt and make peace. 4 



1 Illyria was treated like Macedonia, the country was divided into three parts, each 
of which retained an independent government ; see p. 130. 

a We must pause for one moment to contemplate the spectacle of the triumph which 
ended this memorable war. Rome had long been accustomed to magnificent sights of 
this kind. The conquerors of Tarentum and Carthage, of Philip and Antiochus, had ex- 
hibited before the Roman people the greatness of their exploits in brilliant shows. But 
the past was entirely eclipsed by the magnificence of the procession which brought home 
to the Romans the fact that the empire of Alexander the Great was completely over- 
thrown. The festival lasted three days. On the first day two hundred and fifty wagons, 
containing the paintings and statues taken in the war, were driven through the streets 
and exhibited to the people. On the second day were seen wagons with trophies con- 
sisting of piles of the finest and most precious arms. Then followed the procession of 
three thousand men carrying the captured silver ; after these the vessels of silver, drink- 
ing horns, bowls, and goblets. The third day was the most magnificent of the whole 
festival. A string of animals decorated for sacrifice was followed by the bearers of the 
captured gold aud golden vessels, the heirlooms of the dynasty of Macedonia. Then 
came the royal chariot of Perseus with his arms and his diadems ; behind it walked his 
children, led by their attendants and tutors. Next came Perseus himself in unkingly 
garb, bowed down and completely broken in spirits. His friends and higher servants, 
who had been taken prisoners in war, send now walked behind their master, had tears 
and prayers only for him, and almost forgot their own fate in contemplation of his over- 
whelming misfortune. Four hundred golden crowns, the offerings of Greek communi- 
ties, were carried behind the prisoners ; then came the general himself on his chariot, 
dressed in the garb and decked with the insignia of Jupiter Capitolinus. with a laurel 
branch in his hand. The whole army was also adorned with laurels, and marched in 
warlike order behind their chief, singing songs of victory, mingled with occasional sal- 
lies of satire directed against him. A solemn sacrifice in the Capitol concluded the fes- 
tival.— lhne, vol. in., p. 187 f. 

3 In ^Etolia, the league w?s dissolved ; Acarnania was allowed to continue an inde- 
pendent form of government ; Epirus was punished and ravaged for deserting the Roman 
side ; Boeotia was divided into four districts. 

* Popillus Laenas was the ambassador who carried the message of the senate. He met 
the king near Alexandria and handed him the letter ordering him to leave Egypt. The 
king replying that he would consider the matter, Popillus drew with his staff a circle on 
the ground around the king, saying : " Before you step out of this circle tell me what 



166 THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH. [B.C. 146. 

5. The Achaean League. — The punishment of the 
Achaeans, who had taken no part in the war, was peculiarly 
severe. In pursuance of the policy hitherto adopted in the other 
states, of removing all suspicious persons to Italy, the decree was 
issued that all accused Achaeans should be sent to Italy and an- 
swer the charges against them there. More than one thousand 
of the noblest Achaeans were transported to Italy, and were 
kept in prison in the towns in Etruria for seventeen years with- 
out a trial. Among the exiles was Polybius, the great historian 
whose long residence at Eome and intimate friendship with 
Scipio Africanus and other leading statesmen gave him that 
accurate information and extended knowledge of Soman policy 
which admirably fitted him for the task he undertook, viz.: to 
write the history of the union of the Mediterranean states 
under the hegemony of Rome. 1 The control of the Achaean 
league fell into the hands of Callicrates, a strong partisan of 
Eome who had been chiefly instrumental in procuring the pun- 
ishment of the Achaeans. After languishing in prison for seven- 
teen years, the exiles, by the influence of Africanus and Cato, 
were allowed to return to their native land (b. c. 151). The 
number was reduced to three hundred, and returning to their 
country bitterly exasperated at their long confinement, they 
were ready to engage in any enterprise against Rome. 

6. The Destruction of Corinth (b. c. 146). — The oppor- 
tunity was offered by Andriscus, a pretended son of Perseus, 
who raised the standard of rebellion. Andriscus met at first 
with some success, but was soon conquered and taken prisoner. 
The Achaeans were defeated in two engagements by Metellus. 2 

» 

answer I shall bear to the senate " (Liv. xlv. 12). The king saw that resistance was use- 
less, and yielded to the demands of Rome. 

1 The history of Polybius consisted of forty books (the first five of which only are ex- 
tant), and embraced the period from the accession of Philip to the extinction of Grecian 
independence (b. c. 220-146). As he lived from about b. c. 208 to b. c. 127, and his inti- 
macy with the leading statesmen gave him an opportunity of learning the earlier events, 
the work is almost a contemporaneous history. 

2 The details of the war. — Athens, which had suffered greatly during the war, in order 
to indemnify herself, sent a plundering expedition against Oropus. The Oropians ap- 
pealed to Rome, which referred the question to the Sicyonians, and Athens was con- 
demned to pay 500 talents. An embassy, at the head of which stood the academician Car- 
neades, the stoic Diogenes, and the peripatetic Critolaus, was sent to Rome to deprecate 
the severity of the sentence. The appearance of these three eminent men in the senate 
produced such an effect among the admirers of the Greek language and literature (the 
speeches were translated by Gajus Acilius for those who did not understand Greek) that 



B. C. 146.] THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 167 

His successor Mummins soon brought the struggle to a close. 
Corinth, where the remnant of the Achaean army had taken 
refuge, was stormed and burnt to the ground (b. c. 146). The 
inhabitants were either slain or reduced to slavery, the works 
of art were sent to Eome, and the richest city of Greece, which 
Cicero called the " eye of Hellas/' x was blotted from the face of 
the earth. 2 

7. Macedonia a Roman Province (b.c. 146).— Mace- 
donia, enlarged so as to include Apollo nia and Dyrrhachium on 
the Adriatic, became a Eoman province. The old divisions were 
abolished, each community was allowed local self-government, 
and the general administration was, like that of Sicily, under the 
control of a governor sent annually from Eome. The super- 
vision of the different communities in Greece was entrusted to 
the governor of Macedonia, but it was not until the time of 
Augustus that Greece, under the name of Achaja, was regu- 
larly organized as a Eoman province. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Third Punic War (II C. 149-146). 

1. Roman Policy.— During this period of conquest in the 
East, Eome kept up a system of surveillance by sending am- 

the fine was reduced to 100 talents. This sum the Athenians were unable to pay, and a 
compromise was effected with the Oropians, and a garrison was placed in their town. 
When they wished to get rid of this garrison, they applied to the Achaean league, and 
bribed the Spartan, Menalcidas, who was chief of the league, to help them. He promised 
half of the bribe to Callicrates for his influence, a promise which he failed to keep, and Cal- 
ibrates brought an action for the money. Menalcidas applied to Diaeusand bribed him, 
and from this dispute about money, the quarrel between Sparta and the Achaean league 
arose which caused Rome to interfere. The league under Critolaus was defeated first by 
Metellus at Scarpheja, and then under the lead of Diaeus by Mummius at Leucopetra, on 
the Gulf of Corinth. 

1 Lumen totius Grcecice. 

2 [The destruction of Corinth] by no means proceeded from the brutality of any single 
individual, least of all of Mummius, but was a measure deliberated and resolved on by 
the Roman senate. We shall not err if we recognize it as the work of the mercantile 
party, which even thus early began to interfere in politics by the side of the aristocracy 
proper, and which, in destroying Corinth, got rid of a commercial rival. If the great 
merchants of Rome had anything to say in the regulation of Greece, we can understand 
why Corinth was singled out for punishment, and why the Romans not only destroyed the 
city as it stood, but also prohibited any future settlements on a site so pre-eminently 
favorable for commerce. The Peloponnesian Argos henceforth became the rendezvous 
for the Roman merchants, who were very numerous even in Greece. For the Roman 
wholesale traffic, however, Delos was of greater importance.— Mommsen^ vol. iii., p. 54, 



168 THE THIKD PUNIC WAK. [B.C. 157. 

bassadors 1 to the different states who interfered with the gov- 
ernment, acted as arbiters in disputes between states, and 
fermented quarrels on all sides. The object was to scatter 
seeds of discord and encourage internal disputes. These con- 
troversies were received with open ears at Rome, and prolonged 
by negotiation, until Eome found a pretext for interference, 
and in the end humbled allies and enemies alike. In Greece, 
particularly, Rome's perfidious policy 2 tormented the different 
states, until decay and ruin and desolation spread over the land 
which had once raised itself to the pinnacle of prosperity and 
happiness by its wonderful achievements in art and literature. 
It is true that the battle of Pydna had put an end to the 
detestable policy which left the conquered countries to rule 
themselves, weakened them by separation, and still sought to 
entangle them in disputes until a pretext was finally found to 
crush them. It was this intriguing, insidious policy which 
Rome pursued with Rhodes, with Pergamus, and particularly 
with Carthage; this constant encouragement of disputes that 
finally drove the people to despair and made them prefer any 
form of slavery rather than be longer exposed to this cruel 
system. 3 

2. The Condition of Carthage. — After the conclusion 
of peace in b. c. 201 Carthage began, by a strict neutrality 
during the wars in Macedonia, Asia and Spain, to recover the 
carrying-trade of the Mediterranean, which soon restored the 
old prosperity of the city. This could not fail to awaken the 
jealousy of Rome. Masinissa* was encouraged in his attack on 
Carthaginian territory, and being prevented by the terms of the 
treaty from waging war with any ally of Rome, Carthage was 
compelled to refer the dispute to Rome. Embassies commenced 
their work ; the land in dispute was assigned to Masinissa. In 
this way Carthage was annoyed and harassed, stripped of her 
territory, her towns and her castles, while by the terms of the 



1 Legati. 2 For Mommsen's view, see 1. c. vol. ii., p. 268. 

3 ' ; It would be better," said the Carthaginians, " to live as slaves of the Romans than 
to possess a liberty exposed to the insolence of Masinissa.'' 1 Nay, utter ruin was prefer- 
able to a condition in which they were dependent upon the grace of so cruel a tormentor. 
— Livy xlii. 23; see Ihne, vol. iii., page 319 note, and p. 325, * See p. 153, 



B. C. 150.] THE THIRD PUKIC WAR. 169 

peace she was prevented from defending her just claims by war. 
In b. c. 157 an embassy w r as sent, of which Marcus Porcius 
Cato was chief, to arbitrate on some new claim of Masinissa. 
The Carthaginians appealed to the terms of the treaty, while 
Masinissa professed his willingness to abide by the decision of 
Rome, whatever it might be. The deputies were astonished 
when they beheld the increasing prosperity of the city, the 
harbor thronged with ships, the country highly cultivated, and 
on every side signs of prosperity and wealth. From this time 
the decision was fixed to destroy Carthage and remove the only 
commercial rival that Eome had in the western world. So 
firmly fixed was this determination, that Cato is said to have 
ended each of his many speeches with the words, " Carthage 
must be destroyed." * 

3. War with Masinissa. — The opportunity that Rome 
was seeking for soon occurred. The popular party 2 having 
obtained the power in Carthage, about forty partisans of Ma- 
sinissa w r ere banished. When the people refused to receive the 
exiles, at the request of Masinissa, he inarched upon the city, 
and the Carthaginians, instead of appealing to Rome, took up 
arms. A battle followed in which the Carthaginians were de- 
feated, and their army, after passing under the yoke, was 
treacherously cut to pieces (b.c. 150). These events took place 
while P. Scipio iEmilianus happened to be at the camp of 
Masinissa to ask for elephants for the Spanish war. 

4. Roman Interference. — Carthage had now offered the 
wished-for pretext, by taking up arms against an ally of Rome. 
An embassy was sent to Rome to appease the anger of the 
senate, but it was coldly received. The Carthaginians were 
ordered to send three hundred hostages within thirty days and 
to obey the further commands of the consuls. These were 
sent, but still fearful forebodings filled their minds when the 
Roman fleet sailed from Lilybaeum and landed at Utica. Here 
the Carthaginians were informed that all their munitions of 

1 Dclenda est Carthago. 

2 There were three parties in Carthasre : the aristocratic party which favored Rome ; 
the democratic or popular party ; and a Numidian party which sought to free themselves 
from their dependency on Rome by an alliance witfc Nuraidia. 



170 THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. [b. C. 147. 

war must be surrendered, as they could no longer have any 
occasion for arms, since they would henceforth be under the 
protection of Eome. When this demand was complied with, 
the consuls, thinking that the state was now defenceless, threw 
off the mask and announced the final irrevocable decree of 
the senate : " That Carthage must be destroyed and the inhabi- 
tants must settle ten miles from the sea." Then the Cartha- 
ginians realized to its full extent the revolting perfidy, the 
perfidious policy of the Koman state. 

5. Siege of Carthage. — When this news reached Car- 
thage the spirit of resistance burst all bounds. One thought, 
one feeling animated the people, to fight to the death. Their 
temples were turned into workshops, supplies were collected, 
and arms were manufactured day and night ; the women sacri- 
ficed their long hair to make strings for the catapults, the 
whole town resounded with preparations for war. Hasdrubal, 
who had been expelled to please the Eomans, was recalled and 
entrusted with the chief command ; without allies, without 
ships, almost without arms, the Carthaginians maintained the 
unequal struggle for nearly four years. When the consuls, after 
a short respite, advanced from Utica to Carthage, they found 
that matters were changed, and that, after an unsuccessful at- 
tack, the town could only be taken by the slow process of a siege. 
For this they were utterly incompetent, and the army is said to 
have been saved from destruction on one occasion by Scipio 
iEmilianus, 1 who was serving as military tribune. 

6. Capture and Destruction of Carthage. — As no per- 
manent success was gained, the people determined to confer 
the consulship on Scipio, and give him the command in Africa, 2 
although he was only thirty-seven years of age and therefore 
legally disqualified for the office. 3 In b. c. 147 he landed in 
Africa, forced his way into Carthage, took it almost house by 
house, firing it as he advanaed, until finally only the citadel 



1 It was in an expedition into the interior that, according to Appian (who borrowed 
from Polybius), Scipio saved the Roman array. It is not surprising that Polybius seized 
every opportunity to praise his friend arid pupil. 

* Without the senate's resorting to the usual decision by casting lots. 

3 By the lex anmlis of b. c. 1$Q ; see p. 183, n, 8. 



B. C. 146.] THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 171 

remained. When this surrendered, fifty thousand men, women, 
and children were carried away as captives, and the town, after 
being plundered, was consigned to the flames, which raged for 
seventeen days. As Scipio beheld the desolation of the once 
flourishing city, he is said to have shed tears, and to have 
given vent to his sad presentiment in the words of Homer : 

" The day shall surely come when sacred Troy will fall, 
And Priam, and the people of the ash-speared Priam, all ! " l 

When Polybius, who had accompanied him to Africa, asked 
what he meant by these words, Scipio replied that he was 
thinking of Eome and foresaw the ruin of his own country. 

A splendid triumph awaited Scipio on his return to Eome, 
and the surname Africanus, already his by adoption, he had 
now acquired by his own exploits. 2 

7. Africa a Roman Province. — The territory of Car- 
thage was joined to Utica, which became the capital of the new 
province of Africa. 3 The towns which had sided with Home 
became free cities, while those that had adhered to Carthage 
were punished with loss of land, which was partly added to the 
public domain, 4 and leased to occupants, 5 and partly restored to 
the former communities on condition that they should pay a 
fixed tribute 6 to Rome. The Roman merchants flocked to 
Utica, and henceforth conducted the inland and foreign trade 
that had formerly belonged to Carthage from that port. In 
this way Roman customs and manners, the Latin language and 
literature, were carried to Africa. The rich Libyan 7 plains even 
surpassed Sicily in their production of corn. The site of Car- 
thage was plowed, and a curse pronounced against any one who 
should undertake to rebuild the city. 



1 Homer's Iliad, vi. 448-9. 

2 He was the son of ^milius Paulus, the hero of Pydna, and had been adopted by 
Publius Cornelius Scipio, the elder son of the elder Africanus ; according to custom he 

" retained the name of his own oens, and assumed that of his new father ; his full name 
was Publius Cornelius Scipio iEmilianus Africanus, to which that of Numantinus was 
afterwards added. 

3 The province of Africa included only the territory that Carthage possessed last, u e., 
the territory along the coasts of Zeugitana and Byzacium. See map, p, &J7. 

4 Aqer publicus. 5 Possessor es. ° Stl$en$lum. 

7 The name of Africa, which the Romans gave to the province, was unknown to t&Q 
Greeks ', they applied the name of Libya, to the w&ole continent 



1?2 THE CAUSES OE ROME'S GREATNESS. 

8. The Formation of the Roman Empire. — Rome had 
now extended her dominion oyer the chief countries that 
skirted the shores of the Mediterranean. Before turning to 
study the manner in which the senate managed these depend- 
encies, let us attempt to determine, if possible, how a great city 
could have grown up on such a site as that of Rome, and at- 
tained such superiority over the other towns in Latium and in 
Italy, and then over the countries around the Mediterranean. 
In fertility of soil and healthf ulness of climate the situation of 
Rome was far inferior to that of most of the old Latin towns. 
Neither is Rome's supremacy sufficiently explained by saying 
that the people were warlike and fond of conquest, for so 
was nearly every nation in antiquity ; and besides, the Romans 
and Sabines, that united to form the predominant element of 
the Roman people, were offshoots of the Sebellian stock to 
which nearly all the races in Italy belonged. We have already 
learned that the career of conquest on which the Romans en- 
tered with so much energy and perseverance was far from 
being a contrived plan carried out from generation to genera- 
tion by men of genius. Rome was singularly barren of great 
men, and during this whole period of conquest the Roman 
aristocracy confined its ideas to Italy, and desired nothing but 
its sovereignty. What then were the causes that raised this 
city on the Tiber first to the position as ruler over the sur- 
rounding country, then over Italy, and finally over the Medi- 
terranean states. 

9. The Causes of Rome's Superiority. — The chief 
causes that contributed to this end were first the site of the 
city itself. The other Latin towns were built on isolated hills, 
but Rome was situated on a group of hills which were easily 
defensible, and at the same time so near to each other that the 
political isolation of each was impossible, and that some kind 
of federation * was necessary for the maintenance of internal 
peace. The people were compelled therefore to agree upon 
some terms of amicable life or submit to the miseries of 



THE CAUSES OF KOME'S GREATNESS. 173 

internecine warfare. Community of interest then compelled 
the various settlements on the different hills to unite for mu- 
tual protection, and the ties that bound these political commu- 
nities together were riveted by those of the gentes, curiae, and 
tribes. The site, too, was admirably adapted to make Eome 
the emporium of Latium ; and the ready access to it up the 
river, while it was at the same time remote enough to be pro- 
tected from the pirates that infested the Tyrrhenian sea, invited 
adventurers wandering over the Mediterranean to make it their 
home. This accounts in a measure for the rapid growth of the 
population. Even the sterility of the soil may have encouraged 
the warlike spirit of the early Eomans, and have induced them 
to undertake their frequent wars for the sake of booty ; while 
the malaria that infested the lower parts of the city, particu- 
larly when the valleys between the hills were swamps, may 
have served as a barrier to ward off attacks when other re- 
sources failed. The principle of association then based on cal- 
culations of interest lay at the root of the early vigor of Eome, 
and gave the people the first predominance over the isolated 
cities of Latium. 1 

10. Secondary Causes. — This principle, however, did 
not stop here, but city after city and tribe after tribe were in- 
vited or compelled to join the leading power, until all of Italy 
formed one vast confederacy, around which Eome wove a net- 
work of colonies and military roads. After the conquest of 
Italy, the geographical position of Eome, in the centre of the 
Italian peninsula, by which she was enabled to divide like a 
wedge the northern from the southern half and thus subdue 
her enemies separately, greatly facilitated the career of foreign 
conquest. This position prevented her enemies from combin- 
ing 2 and attacking the city simultaneously on all sides. 
Thirdly, the similarity of race which bound the Eomans 
by ties of blood and customs to the Latins, Samnites, and 



1 lime, Early Borne, p. 7. 

a The ancient world knew nothing of a balance of power among nations, and therefore 
every nation which had attained internal unity strove to subdue its neighbors.— Momm- 
een, iii., p. 333. 



174 SPANISH WAKS. [B.C. 200. 

the other indigeneous races in Italy, enabled them to ap- 
pear as the protectors and champions of Italy, and to unite all 
the other races under their lead in repelling the invasion of 
foreign enemies. 1 Finally the admirable political system and 
military organization, based upon the character of a people like 
the Komans, with so much inherent energy and perseverance, 
were important elements that contributed largely to their suc- 
cess. When they .had once entered upon a war, no obstacle 
discouraged them, no power could arrest their progress. Their 
defeats were but incentives for greater efforts, and, urged on by 
an uncontrollable instinct, they gained the sovereignty of three 
continents. 



-♦« ♦>o+~ 



CHAPTBR XXVIII. 

Spanish Wars (B. 0. 200-153) — Extension of the Pro- 
vincial System — The Condition of the Slaves. 

1. The Oppression in Spain.— In the year b. c. 205 
Spain had been formed into two provinces, 2 although the 
Eoman dominion was established in only a small part of the 
country. The country was easy of defence and the people 
brave and fond. of war. Although efforts had been made to 
. colonize it, 3 and in this way bring it under the influence of 
Home, yet little had been accomplished, and the native tribes 
were in a continual state of revolt. Marcus Porcius Cato was 
sent to the country in b. c. 195 ; he arrayed the different tribes 
against each other, gained several decisive victories, and on his 
return to Eome, boasted that he had destroyed more towns 

1 Ihne, Hist, of Rome, vol. iii., p. 427. 

2 The two provinces were called Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, and were 
divided by the Iberus. 

3 Scipio had settled his soldiers in Spain and founded Italica (b. c. 205). 



b. c. 154.] 



SPANISH WARS. 



175 



than he had spent days in Spain (b. c. 194). The senate under- 
took to control the rapacity of the Spanish governors, and the 
first of those judicial commissions, 1 which afterwards became 
so numerous, and which were designed to protect the provin- 
cials, was appointed. Spain enjoyed comparative quiet for a 
few years, and treaties 2 were formed with a number of towns, 
stipulating that in return for war contributions or auxiliaries, 
Eome guaranteed them protection. Still there was but little 




real gain ; the Roman dominion was recognized only on the 
eastern border, the tribes in the interior and to the north were 
but little known, and had never come under the Eoman yoke. 
The military service in Spain, which offered but little plunder 
and no easy, bloodless victories, was becoming daily more dis- 
tasteful to the Roman soldier. 

2. War with the Celtiberians. — In the year b. c. 154 



Qucestiones repelwi&qruin. 



1 J5y T. Semprpnius Gracchus, 



176 SPANISH WAES. [B.C. 150. 

it happened that the people of Segeda were occupied in en- 
larging their town, when the order came from Home bidding 
them to desist, and to furnish tribute and auxiliaries. The 
order they refused to obey, because according to the treaty 
they were only forbidden to build a new town, and not to en- 
large one already existing, and because they had hitherto paid 
no tribute nor supplied soldiers. War broke out, and the con- 
sul, Fulvius Nobilior, was defeated with great loss. The peo- 
ple of Segeda took refuge in Kumantia and defeated the 
Komans again under the walls of that city. In the same year 
(b. c. 153), the Lusitanians revolted and defeated a Eoman army. 
The next year the consul M. Claudius Marcellus concluded 
a treaty with the Arevacians and other tribes, on condition 
that they should pay tribute and give hostages. When Lucullus, 
the next consul, arrived in Spain the following year, finding 
the war had been ended and his hopes of bringing home honor 
and especially plunder frustrated, he turned his arms against 
the tribes 1 at peace with Eome. 

3. War in Lusitania. — Meanwhile Sulpicius Galba was 
vieing in Lusitania with Lucullus in treachery and deceit. 
When the Lusitanians sent ambassadors to hirn to ask for 
peace, he received them kindly, lamented the condition of their 
country, and promised to settle their people on fertile lands. 
After having collected them to the number of many thousands 
and disarmed them, they were surrounded by his own troops 
and murdered (b. c. 150). This outrage was too much even for 
the Eoman people, accustomed as they were to so many acts of 
cruelty and treachery. Cato preferred charges against Galba, 
but his wealth and great gifts as an orator (he was one of the 
most famous orators of his time) procured his acquittal in the 
assembly of tribes. 

4. Viriathus. — Among the few who escaped the massacre 
was Variathus, who, as the avenger of his people, carried on 
the fiery war 2 in Spain against the vast power of Eome for 



1 He attacked the Vaccseans, gained possession of Cauca by treachery, slew the inhab- 
itants, and plundered the town, 

2 Polybius, xxxv, 1, 



B. C. 143.] SPANISH WARS. 177 

more than ten years. Army after army was defeated, year after 
year the incompetent Roman commanders fell into the same 
traps. Even Q. Fabius Maximus * was unable to break the power 
of the Lusitanians and defeat the wily Viriathus. In the year 
B. c. 141 Viriathus formed a treaty with Borne which recog- 
nized him as the friend of the Roman nation, but the consul 
for the next year, in open violation of the treaty, renewed the 
war. Viriathus was defeated and compelled to sue for peace. 
When the Lusitanians were ordered to give up their arms, Vari- 
athus, convinced that the treachery of Galba was to be re- 
peated, was meditating a last desperate resistance, when he was 
murdered by his own envoys (b. c. 139), who had been bribed 
by the Roman consul Servilius Caepio to do the deed. So low 
had Roman honor and valor descended that the proconsul did 
not hesitate to employ the hand of the assassin to rid himself 
of an enemy whom he could not defeat in the field. 

5. The Numantine war (b. c. 143-133). — In the mean- 
while the Celtiberians had revolted and renewed the war, which 
centred round Numantia, and which defied the Roman arms 
for ten years. During the first two years the war was con- 
ducted by Metellus Macedonicus 2 with considerable degree 
of success, but his successors experienced repeated defeats 
and disasters. Finally Gajus Hostilius Mancinus was brought 
to such straits by his own incapacity and the cowardice of 
his soldiers, that he was compelled to sign a treaty in which 
ho acknowledged the independence of the enemy. The senate 
repudiated the treaty, and the commander was surrendered by 
the Roman fetialis. Naked and with chained hands he stood 
bound before the town, but the Numantines, like Pontius, 
refused to accept the sacrifice, and Mancinus returned to the 
camp and then to Rome. The war continued in the same 
disastrous manner until B. c. 134, when Scipio Africanus 3 took 
the command. Three men, Gajus Marius, who was afterwards 

1 This was the eldest son of ^Emilius Paulus, who had heen adopted into the Fabian 
gens ; his full name was Quintus Fabius Maximus JSmilianus. 

2 See page 134. 

3 Scipio was re-elected consul, notwithstanding the law passed in b. c. 151 prohibiting 
the re-election of a consul ; see Mommsen, Rom Staatr. i. ? p. 425. 



B.C. 133.] THE CONDITION OF THE SLAVES. 179 

seven times consul, Jugurtha, the grandson of Masinissa, and 
Tiberius Gracchus, who was destined to play an important part 
in Koman history, served under Scipio. Scipio's first efforts 
were devoted to the restoration of the discipline of the army. 
He drove the vast rabble of camp-followers, traders and traf- 
fickers who supplied the soldiers with articles of luxury, from 
the camp. He reduced the amount of baggage to what was 
actually necessary for the wants of each soldier, and by con- 
stant drill and exercise he succeeded in bringing his soldiers 
back to a suitable condition for war. 

6. Siege of Numantia. — Scipio now advanced to the 
siege of Numantia. The inhabitants defended themselves with 
wonderful heroism and courage, and it was not until they had 
suffered the most dreadful extremities of famine, eating even 
the bodies of the dead, that they surrendered. Fifty of the 
principal citizens were selected to adorn Scipio's triumph, the 
rest were sold as slaves and the town razed to the ground. 
Scipio now assumed the surname of JSTumantinus in addition to 
his title of Africanus. All serious resistance in Spain was at an 
end ; and the country, by the great influx of Koman traders, 
speculators, merchants, and settlers, became rapidly Romanized. 
Great towns sprung up as centres for the vast inland commerce 
in corn, wool, wine, and mineral products, and Latin soon 
became the official language of both the Spanish provinces. 

7. The Province of Asia (b.c. 129) — The same year in 
which Spain was subdued the first province beyond the Helles- 
pont was acquired. Attalus III., the sixth king of Pergamus, died 
in B. c. 133, leaving no children. He bequeathed his kingdom 
and treasures to the Roman people. Aristoniciis, a natural son 
of Eumenes the father of Attalus, laid claim to the throne, but 
he was soon defeated and taken prisoner. The country was 
formed into a Roman province under the name of Asia. 

8. The Increase in Slavery. — The slave population, 
during the wars in the East, had increased enormously. On the 
large estates the labor was almost entirely performed by gangs 
of slaves ; the immense herds of cattle on the pasture-lands 
were tended by slaves who were made responsible for their flocks 



180 THE SERYILE WAE. [B. C. 134. 

and were left to find subsistence as they could. Almost all had 
once been freemen, and no marked difference of color or race 
or civilization placed the master above the slave. The Eoman 
nobles, as occupiers of the public lands, found it profitable to 
cultivate them by slave-labor. The free population in Italy, 
particularly the possessors of small farms, had so decreased that 
large tracts were parcelled into sheep-walks. 

9. The Servile War (b.c. 134-132).— The condition in 
Sicily was even worse, 1 where a wealthy land-owner, named 
Damophilus, maltreated his slaves to such a degree that they 
resolved to have revenge. They found a leader in Eunus, a 
pretended Syrian prophet. They attacked Enna and plundered 
the town. The insurrection spread far and wide ; four Eo- 
man armies were defeated, and the rebels so increased that 
they numbered two hundred thousand. Eor three successive 
years (b.c. 134-132) Eoman consuls were sent to the island, but 
nothing was accomplished towards subduing the insurgents 
until B. c. 132, when Publius Eupilius brought the war to a 
close by the capture of their strongholds, Tauromenium (Taor- 
mina) and Enna, and as pro-consul, with the aid of ten com- 



1 When the slaves landed in Sicily they were kept by the dealers in slave-pens waiting 
for purchasers. The wealthy capitalists would buy whole batches at once, brand or 
mark the slaves like cattle, and send them off to the country to work. The young and 
robust were employed as shepherds, the others in agricultural and other labor. Some 
worked in fetters, to prevent them from running" away. All of them had hard service, 
and their masters supplied them scantily with food and clothing. They cared little about 
their slaves. They worked them while they were able to work, and the losses by death 
were replaced by fresh purchases. This want of humanity and prudence in the masters 
soon produced intolerable mischief. The slaves who were employed in looking after 
sheep and cattle of necessity had more freedom than those who were cultivating the 
ground. Their masters saw little of them, and left them unprovided with food, suppos- 
ing that they would be able to look after themselves and cost nothing. They soon found 
ways of helping themselves. They began by robbing and murdering, even in frequented 
places, travellers who were alone or only in small companies. It became unsafe for 
travellers, to move about by night, nor could people any longer safely live on their lands 
in the country. The shepherds got possession of huts which the occupants abandoned, 
and of arms of various kinds also, and thus they became bolder and more confident. 
They went about with clubs and spears and the staves which were used by herdsmen, 
dressed in wolfskins or hogskins, and already began to make a formidable appearance. 
They had a great number of fierce dogs with them, and an abundance of food from the 
milk and flesh of their beasts. The island was filled with roaming bands of plunderers. 
Slaves were bought cheap, and could be made profitable by working them hard ; and thus 
the greediness of gain, the total want of any human feeling in the masters, the neglect 
of proper discipline among the slaves, and the careless feeling of security produced by 
many years of prosperity, brought things gradually to such a state that repression of the 
disorder was beyond the power of the masters or governors ; for the masters could not 
reduce such sturdy fellows to obedience on estates far lemovedfrom towns, and a Ro- 
man governor of Sicily had no army at his command. — Long's Decline of the Bom. Bep. y 
vol. i., p. 114 f, 



B. C. 241.] THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. 181 

missioners, settled the affairs of the island. 1 On his return to 
Eome he celebrated a sort of lesser triumph, called ovation. 2 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The Internal Government. — Farming the Revenue. — 
The Italian Allies. — The New Nobility. — The Con- 
dition of the People. — Hellenic Influences. — Orien- 
tal Superstitions. — Slavery. 

-1. The Provincial System. — During the preceding cen- 
tury the chief countries that skirted the borders of the Medi- 
terranean had become provinces of Home : (1) Sicily 3 was 
acquired in b. c. 241 ; (2) Sardinia and Corsica, B.C. 238 ; (3) 
Hispania Citerior and (4) Ulterior/ B. c. 206 ; 5 (5) Macedonia/ 

1 By the lex Eupilia. 

2 In order to enjoy a triumph the imperium must have been conferred upon the com- 
mander in the regular way (hence Publius Scipio, after the conquest of New Carthage in 
Spain, was not allowed to triumph because he had commanded sine ullo magistrate. — Liv. 
xxviii. 38) ; the war ended, the dominion of the state extended (Liv. xxxix. 29), at least 
5,000 of the enemy slain in battle, the war must have been a legitimate one waged under 
the auspices, in the province, and with the troops of the commander seeking the triumph ; 
for a magistrate as a pro-consul to triumph after the expiration of his term of office, a 
plebiscitum was necessary to allow him to enter the city, while for the consul whose im- 
perium included the city it was only necessary to confer the full imperium (regium im- 
perium). To settle these preliminaries, and to fix the day for the triumphal procession, 
belonged to the senate. The procession, headed by the senate and followed by the victo- 
rious troops with trains of wagons loaded with spoils from the captured cities, entered 
the porta triumphalis and advanced along the via sacra to the temple of Jupiter Capito- 
linus. The triumpher sat upon a golden chariot drawn by four white horses, clad in the 
gorgeous triumphal robe embroidered with gold {toga ]ricta) and the flowered tunic 
(tunica palmata) and crowned with a wreath of myrtle, and a sceptre (scipio eburneus) 
in his right hand. He was accompanied in his chariot by his children, while his clients 
and relatives, clothed in white togas, surrounded it ; behind him stood a slave holding 
over his head a golden crown, and whispering in his ear, respice post te, hominem 
mem,ento te- The soldiers were in the rear, their spears n domed with laurel ; some sang 
hymns to the gods, some shouted lo triumphe, while others sang songs in praise of their 
leader, or indulged in sallies of satire, or coarse ribaldry, for the soldiers were released 
from military discipline and full license of speech was granted on this day. 

In the ovation the imperator entered the city on foot, or in later times on horseback, 
clad in the purple-bordered robe (toga purpurea) and his head crowned with laurel 
Instead of a bull he sacrificed a sheep {ovis), hence the name ovatio (Serv. ad Verg. A. 
4,550). 

8 That is, the western part of the island ; the whole island was acquired after the cap- 
ture of Syracuse in b. c. 210. 

* The first enlarged by Celtiberia ; the second by Lusitania, in b. c. 179 ; according to 
Marquardt (Staatsver. p. 99) Spain was organized in b. c. 197. 

5 According to Appian, Hisp. 38. \ 

6 Achaja became practically a province at the same time, although not formally or- 
ganized until the time of Augustus. 



182 THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. [b. C. 149. 

B. c. 146 ; Illyrieum, 1 about b. c. 167 ; Africa, b. c. 146 ; Asia, 
b. c. 133. Each province was governed generally by a praetor, 2 
the number of which was increased in b. c. 227 to four and in 
B.C. 197 to six. These provincial governors received no salary, 
but they were entitled to exact certain contributions from the 
provincials for the support of themselves and suite. 3 They pos- 
sessed the supreme military and civil authority, and no matter 
how serious the complaints were against their management, 
they were irremovable during their term of office. At its expi- 
ration, it is true, they could be brought to trial either before 
the people or before the senatorial judges, 4 but there was little 
prospect of conviction on a suit brought by a poor man or by a 
foreigner against a powerful member of the ruling aristocracy, 
especially since it was tried before jurymen far removed from 
the scene, and if not involved in like gui]t, at least belonging 
to the same order as the accused. 5 

2. Roman Governors. — After b. c. 149 it became the 
general practice for the praetors 6 to spend their first year of office 
in Eome, and the second year as pro-praetors to undertake the 
management of a province. 7 For many years these governors 
ruled the provincials with honesty and protected them from the 
oppression of the revenue-farmers. 8 But gradually they relaxed 

1 Livy (xlv. 26, 11) designates niyricum as a province : see 338, n. 1. 

2 A consul was sent only in case of a dangerous war. 

3 Cohors: consisting of quaestors, secretaries, notaries, lictors, augurs, and public 
criers. 

* A criminal prosecution was made before the people, a civil suit before a jury selected 
from the senators. 

5 The provinces found some protection from the rapacity of Roman officials by be- 
coming clients of distinguished men who brought the plundering officials to trial on 
their return to Home. 

e According to Mommsen this arrangement, by which the governor spent the first year 
at Rome and the second in the province, became the established practice from the time 
of Sulla ; see p. 257. 

7 The population in the provinces consisted of two classes : those to which a certain 
degree of independence was granted, and those completely subject to the civil and judi- 
cial administration of the governor. In the first class were the (1) free cities (civitates 
libera?) ; (2) the cities that were free and exempt from taxes (civitates liberal et immunes); 
and (3) the allied cities (civitates foederatce) ; the second class paid not only tribute, but 
a land tax. 

8 Publicani ; these were the persons who farmed the public revenues (publica vectiga- 
lia), i. e. direct (decumce ,* trlbutum, scriptura, metalla, salince) and indirect (portoria), 
taxes ; about the time of the second Punic war the publicani (principally from the eques- 
trian order) formed themselves into corporations which enabled them to carry on the 
business on a large scale. The land in the provinces was partly given to Roman settlers 
(agri privati), or to the free communities (civitates foederatce and civitates liberal et im- 
munes), or, as was generally the case, became public domain (ager publicus), and was (1) 
partly sold by the quaestor (as ager privatus vectigalisque), but still remaining so far the 
property of the state that it payed a nominal tax (vectigal), or, as was the case with most 



THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. 183 

in their honesty, and it became a rare case for a governor to 
return from his province with clean hands. The governor had 
the right to free quarters and free conveyance when travelling 
on the business of the state, and to obtain supplies for himself 
and retinue, and in case of war for the army, at a fair price. 
As the senate exercised no strict control over the provincial 
magistrates, these privileges opened the way to so many abuses 
that in time the condition of the provincials, under such gov- 
ernors as Verres, became intolerable. 1 The man who had ruled 
a province in a manner substantially independent of the senate, 
found it hard on his return home to descend to the common level. 
In this way the equality within the aristocracy was broken down, 
the oversight of the senate of the provincial magistrate, always 
lax, began to give way, and hence the aversion of the govern- 
ment to the acquisition of new provinces, as in the case of 
Macedonia after the battle of Pydna. Further, the immense 
wealth of the governing families was used to influence the votes 
of the proletarians in the capital, either directly or by expending 
vast sums on the public games or gladiatorial shows. This ren- 
dered it more and more difficult for a man who was not w r ealthy 
to rise to office. 

3. Titles and Insignia. — We have already noticed that 
the desire for titles and insignia was so great, and that every 
insignificant combat was so magnified by false bulletins, that 
the senate had to enact a law that a triumph could only be 
granted when a pitched battle had taken place in which five 
thousand of the enemy fell. At first the thanks of the senate 
satisfied the successful commander, but soon he demanded some 
permanent distinction. Statues and monuments had become so 



of the land, (2) was restored to the old owners, subject to taxation, or (3) was retained 
by the state and was leased by the censors (ager Romanus populi, quia censoribus locari 
solet). The province? paid either tenths (decu'mce), as in Sicily, or a fixed sum (stipendiifm) 
as in the other provinces. The collection of the tenths was farmed out, or leased, to the 
publieani, who paid a fixed sum into the public treasury and collected what they could ; 
they abused their power and oppressed the defenceless provincials to such a degree that 
even Livy (xlv. 18) says ubi publicanus est, ibi aut jus publicum vanum, aut libertas sociis 
nulla — wherever a tax-collector was employed, either the rights of the people ivere disre- 
garded or the freedom of the allies destroyed. 

1 When complaints of such extortion (in year b.c. 173) began to be made, they came 
before the senate ; in b. c. 149 the lex Calpurnia de repetundis was enacted by which a 
praetor was appointed to try such complaints ; the penalty was pecuniary, but it was con- 
tinually made heavier by the various laws passed after the lex Calpurnia. 



184 THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. 

common that they were no longer considered an honor, and the 
custom mainly established by Scipio, the conqueror of Hannibal, 
of acquiring a permanent surname for himself and his descend- 
ants from the victories he had won, came into general practice. 

4. The Italian Allies. — In consequence of the long wars, 
the position of the Latins, and particularly the allies in Italy, 
had undergone a change greatly to their disadvantage. The 
burdens imposed upon them had been unjustly increased, and 
the military service — particularly garrison duty and the odious 
service in Spain — was transferred more and more to the Italian 
allies. After the subjugation of Italy, the admission of indi- 
viduals as well as communities to the Eoman franchise was 
almost completely stopped, and the Italian allies, although by 
their blood and toil the Eoman dominion had been extended 
over the states of the Mediterranean, remained substantially 
in the same condition as the provincials. Just as the ruling 
class at Eome separated itself from the people, so the Eoman 
citizens in their turn asserted their superiority over the Latins, 
and excluded them more and more from their rights — such 
as an equal assignment of land, the right of free migration, 
and free settlement in Eome, unless the emigrants left chil- 
dren behind them in their native city — while transferring to 
them an increased share in the common burdens. 

5. Roman Citizenship. — This injustice was the more 
keenly felt by them, from the fact that the rights of a Eo- 
man citizen had been enlarged, and more clearly defined by 
laws that threatened the severest punishment to a magistrate ' 
who put to death or scourged a Eoman citizen. 1 To this was 
added the right to one on trial for life before the comitia centu- 
riata of going into voluntary exile, before the decision of the 
assembly was announced. The great increase of the revenue 2 

1 These were the three celebrated Porcian laws (Cic. de Ren. ii. 31, 54) carried proba- 
bly by (1) M. Porcius Cato (praetor b. c. 198), which threatened aquce et ignis interdictio 
to a magistrate who ordered a Roman citizen to be scourged and put to death within the 
pomerium. (2) M. Porcius Laeca (tribune b. c. 195) extended this privilege to Roman 
citizens living in any part of Italy or the provinces ; and (3) L. Porcius Licinus (consul 
b. c. 185), to the Roman citizens serving in the army, so far as was consistent with mili- 
tary discipline.— Lange, Rom. Alterth. vol. ii., pp. 179, 218, 479. 

2 Of the vast revenue of the Roman state, (the spoils in the war with Perseus amounting 
to £2,100,000), I in time of peace, T \j in time of war was expended in roads, bridges, aque- 
ducts, and public buildings. The great system of sewers was constructed about b. c. 180 ; 



THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. 185 

from the transmarine provinces had rendered it unnecessary to 
impose the tribute on Koman citizens since the battle of 
Pydna. These privileges rendered citizenship from year to year 
more desirable, and made the allies feel that they were subjects 
of Rome. When they saw the chasm growing greater, and that 
it was spanned by no bridge, a profound dissatisfaction prevailed 
throughout the whole Italian confederacy. 

6. Formation of New Parties. — In Rome itself the 
condition of things was not much better. The old opposition 
between the plebeians and patricians had been removed by the 
Hortensian and Msenian laws, 1 only to be renewed under another 
form. The common people rose in revolt against the new 
nobility, composed of the members of those families that had 
held a curule magistracy, 2 and were members of the senate, and 
thus virtually renewed the old contest. The increasing power 
of wealth to influence elections, the initiative of the senate in 
legislation, the exclusion of all "new men" 3 from the higher 
magistracies, threw the government 4 more and more into the 

in b.c. 171 the streets of Eome were paved ; in B.C. 169 the Pomptine marshes were drained, 
and the magnificent aqueducts, which even in their ruins are the admiration of modern 
time-, were begun by the praetor Q,. Marcius (b.c. 144). In b.c. 159 the first clepsydra 
was set up by Scipio Nasica. The Romans for nearly 500 years possessed no clocks. At 
first they guessed at the time from the position of the sun, not even dividing the day into 
hours. Afterwards twenty-four hours were reckoned from midnight to midnight, but 
the day, from the rising to the setting sun, was divided into twelve hours. After sun- 
dials {solarium) (about b. c. 294) were introduced, the day was divided into twelve equal 
parts, and the night into twelve hours. Hence the hours of night and day were of variable 
length, and only equal at the equinoxes. In order to compare the Roman hours with ours 
we must always know the natural length of the day at Rome. For a full comparison see 
Ideler^s Lehrbuch d. Chronologie. It is well to remember that on the sundials {solarium) 
the hours were divided by means of eleven lines. If the shadow of the finger {gnomon) 
fell upon the first line, the first hour was already passed. Hence -prima hora denotes the 
beginning of the second hour. On dull days there was no means of determining the time 
until the clepsydrae were known. They were similar to our sand-glasses, the water being 
allowed to escape gradually like the sand. In order to know the time without any trouble, 
slaves were kept at the solarium and clepsydra to report when each hour expired. 

1 See pp. 84 and 85, note 3. 

2 The curule magistrates had the right of sitting on the sella curulis, or chair of state. 
This right belonged, in the time of the republic, to the consuls, praetors, curule aediles, 
censors, flamen Dialis, dictator, and his master of horse {magister equitwn). 

3 It will be recollected that the nobility had no legal privileges as a class (see p. 85), 
but the nobles were bound together by common interest, particularly in confining the 
election to all the higher magistracies to the members of their own order. The especial 
distinction of the nobles was the jus imaginum (the right of showing the images of their 
ancestors). When a plebeian attained to a curule office, and was thus the founder of his 
family's nobility, he could have no imagines of his ancestors nor of his own, for the im- 
agines of a man were not made until he was dead. Such a person, then, was not nobilis 
in the full sense of the word nor yet was he ignobilis. He was called novus homo, or a 
44 new man." 

* A law was carried in b. c. 342 (see p. 82) to prevent re-election to the same office until 
after ten years, and in b. c. 180 (by the lex annalis) defined the order in which the magis- 
tracies must be sought, and the age before which they could not be held was fixed : the 



186 THE INTERNAL GOVERKMEKT. [b. 0. 194. 

hands of a few great houses. 1 In this way the old republican 
aristocracy was transferred into a family oligarchy. 

7. Separation of the Orders. — Upon those whose ances- 
tors had attained to any of the curule magistracies there were 
bestowed certain privileges — the most ancient of which was the 
permission to place the wax images of such ancestors 2 in the 
family hall — and external insignia, of which the stripe of pur- 
ple 3 on the tunic, the golden finger ring, 4 the silver mounted 
housings 5 of the youths, and the golden amulet case 6 of the 
boys were the most important. These served to distinguish 
the noble families, and combined with the innovation introduced 
by Scipio (b. c. 194), of assigning the front seats of the theatre 7 
to the senatorial order, and the fact that the senators who had 
been consuls, praetors, or curule sediles were honored with cer- 
tain special privileges 8 drew a sharp line between the ruling 
class and the people. 

8. The Aim of the Nobility. — During this period the 
nobility sought to gain sole and exclusive control of the gov- 
ernment by means of the senate and equites. 9 Formerly the 
censor had placed the names of worthy men on the list of 
senators who had not held a curule office, and sometimes ex- 
pelled unworthy members from that body although they did 
belong to the nobility. Now the aim of the governing aristoc- 
racy was to grant to the senate the power of filling up its own 
ranks by legally entitling every one who had held a curule 
magistracy to a seat in that body, and by making it the duty 
of the censor, 10 on erasing from its list any name, to give the 
reasons in writing. As the nobility succeeded in confining the 
higher offices to its own clique, the senate gained control over 
both modes of admission to its ranks — election to a curule 
office and nomination by the censor. The government man- 



earliest age for the qusestorship was 27 ; for the aedileship, 37 ; for the prsetorship, 40 ; for 
the consulship, 43. 

1 According to Mommsen (Rom. Forsch. p. 71, fi\) some fifteen or sixteen houses con- 
trolled the government to the end of the republic. 2 Jus imaginum. 

3 Lotus clavus. * Annvlvs aureus. s Phalerce. 6 Bulla aurea. 

7 In the orchestra. 8 See p. 88, n. 2. 9 See p. 23 and p. 210, note 6. 

10 One censor had the right to veto his colleague's decision, and his successor could 
entirely cancel it. Further, the list was not liable to revision at any time, as formerly, 
but only once in five years. 



THE INTERNAL GOVEMMEtfT. 187 

aged in the same way with the equites. Senators, 1 although 
past the age when they could serve in the cavalry, and young 
men of the nobility were allowed to vote in the equestrian cen- 
turies, and thus exert undue influence in the comitia. And 
further, in order to bring the public assemblies more and more 
under the control of the ruling aristocracy, large numbers of 
freedmen, the political retainers 2 of the noble houses, were 
either admitted to the franchise by legal enactment 3 or by the 
carelessness and collusion of the censor. The lower classes of 
voters, the city rabble, was also systematically corrupted by 
largesses of corn and by the public games which the rich cele- 
brated with great expense and splendor in order to curry favor 
with the voters. These assemblies were also brought more and 
more under the influence of the governing aristocracy as the 
body of citizens increased, because the elements which composed 
them grew more numerous and varied and widely separated, and 
therefore more easily managed by the presiding officer. The 
magistrate alone had the right of addressing the assemblies; and 
the people stood and assented to his proposals. The voters were 
too widely scattered to be instructed beforehand and to agree 
upon any unity of action. Therefore it is not to be wondered 
at that it had long been the custom for the more important 
affairs of state, the entire foreign policy, to be settled in the 
senate. 

9. The Condition of the People. — Originally the Ko- 
mans had been a hardy and industrious race and had lived on 
their small farms and cultivated them with their own hands. 
During the war with Hannibal the devastation of Italy had 
been so great that the small farms had almost entirely disap- 
peared. The armies destined for foreign service were com- 
posed chiefly of veterans, many of whom served for fourteen 
years. They became estranged from civil life, adopted the 
habits of soldiers, and relied chiefly on plunder. The condi- 
tion of Italy, particularly after the Hannibalic war, was favor- 
able for indulging such propensities. A great number of the 

1 See p. 23 and p. 210, n. 6. - Clientes. 3 As in b. c. 240. 



188 ME IHTERtfAL COVERXMEHT. [b. C. 232. 

Italians had joined Hannibal, their towns were given up to 
plunder, and large tracts of land were confiscated. The soldiers 
could seldom make use of the spoils that fell into their hands, 
and therefore had recourse to the retinue of traders that fol- 
lowed in the wake of the armies, and converted their plunder 
into ready money, which was soon squandered, and they 
returned home to swell the impoverished crowd that was daily 
increasing in the capital. The result was that during the long 
wars the rich grew richer, and the poor poorer ; productive 
labor declined when a vast amount of wealth poured into Rome 
from the conquered states. The proletarians increased to an 
alarming extent, and by the largesses of corn and the enormous 
sums spent in public festivals 1 fell more and more under the 
power of the few reigning families. 

10. The Agrarian Law of Flaminius. — All over Italy 
large tracts of land were deserted, thousands of people were 
impoverished, and what was worse, disinclined to earn an honest 
living by toil in the field or in the workshop. There were some 
who saw the evils that threatened the state and sought to avert 
them by wise measures of reform, but they were thwarted by 
the calculating avarice and selfishness of the nobility, and the 
state continued on the downward road and approached nearer 
and nearer the fatal catastrophe. G-. Flaminius saw clearly the 
danger that threatened the state, and strove against the entire 
opposition of the Roman aristocracy to remove it. The people 
however sided with him, and he was able to carry his measures 
for reform in the plebeian assembly of tribes in direct opposition 
to the senate. 2 The law passed during his tribunate (b. c. 232), 
assigning the territory of the Senonian Gauls to Roman set- 
tlers, has been mentioned. 3 He was elected consul in b. c. 222, 
and conducted the war against the Insubians. When the trib- 
une Gr. Claudius proposed the law to prevent the nobility from 



1 The public festivals were religious ceremonies instituted to pacify the gods. To the 
great Eoman games instituted in the regal period were added the plebeian games in b. c. 
509, the Apolhnarian in b. c. 512, and the Megalisian in b. c. 204. 

2 So important was this that Polybius (ii. 21\ a stanch defender of the aristocracy, 
dates the decline of the Koman state from this time. 

3 See page 129. 



B. C. 234.] THE IKTEKtfAL GOVEKKMENT. 189 

speculating in government contracts by forbidding senators and 
their sons to engage in foreign trade or to own any vessel be- 
yond a certain size, Flaminius was the only man in the senate 
who was outspoken in favor of the measure. 1 The disastrous 
defeat which Varro, the popular leader, suffered in the Hanni- 
balic war, threw the entire control of the government again 
into the hands of the senate. 

11. Cato's Efforts for Reform. — There were also other 
men who saw with regret the decline of the old national vigor 
and the spread of corruption, and strove to resist it. Such was 
Marcus Porcius Cato, 2 who was born at Tusculum in b. c. 234. 
He was brought up on his father's Sabine farm, where his at- 
tachment to the hardy habits of his ancestors was encouraged 
by his neighbor Ourius Dentatus, the conqueror of Pyrrhus. 



1 The reform in the order of voting, effected soon after the first Punic war, was due 
to the opposition, and was a change in favor of the people. Hitherto the equites and first 
class had constituted a majority of the 193 centuries ; as it was now arranged each of the 
thirty-five tribes was divided into five classes, each class was subdivided into two cen- 
turies, thus giving 350 centuries, which with the eighteen centuries of equites and the 
five centuries of smiths, carpenters, &c, made the sum of 273. The right of priority in 
voting was withdrawn from the equites, and transferred to a division chosen from the 
first class by lot. About this time began the agitation in regard to the manner of voting 
for elections of magistrates and in public trials. Hitherto each citizen declared the can- 
didate for whom he voted : now the opposition demanded the ballot itabella), hence the 
laws were called leges tabellarice ; the first law {lex Gabinia) for the election of magistrates 
by ballot was not carried until b. c. 139, and in b. c. 137 the voting by ballot was extended 
to state trials ; in a trial, (condemno) for guilty, A (absolvo) for not guilty, and W. 
L. (non liquet, i. e., it is not clear) for'a neutral verdict, were inscribed upon the ticket. 
In an election the name of the candidate ; for the enactment of a law, U. R. {uti i 
for the affirmative, and A. (antiquo) for the negative. 

2 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

. 1. M. Porcius Cato Censorius, cos. b. c. 195, cens. b.c. 184. 
m. 1. Licinia, 2. Salonia. 



2. M. Porcius Cato Licinianus, 3. M. Porcius Cato Salootanus, 
pr. design, b. c. 152, m. ^Emilia. praetor. 



4. M. Porcius Cato, 5. G. Porcius Cato, 6. M. Porcius Cato, 7. L. Porcius Cato, 
cos. b. c 118. cos. b. c 114. Tr. pi. m. Livia. cos. b. c. 89. 



8. M. Porcius Cato, 
praetor. 



M. Porcius Cato Uticencis, Porcia, m. 

pr. b. c 54. L. Domitius 

m. 1. Atilia, 2. Marcia, Ahenobarbus. 



190 THE OTTEK^AL GOVERNMENT. [B. C. 195. 

Under the patronage of Valerius Flaccus, a lover of the olden 
times when the farmer was called from his plow to lead the ar- 
mies of the commonwealth, Cato entered public life. He was 
seventeen when he served his first campaign. He fought with 
honor through the whole Hannibalic war. He rose from one 
office to another until in b. c. 195 he became consul, crossed 
the line, and entered that well-fenced circle from which the 
efforts of the aristocracy was to exclude all "new men." He 
distinguished himself by opposing all corruption. He resisted 
the repeal of the Oppian law, which forbade a woman to pos- 
sess more than one ounce of gold, or wear a garment of diverse 
colors, or ride in the city in a carriage. Cato was the same in 
the forum as on the battle-field. He battled manfully against 
the prevailing corruption. His prompt and ready wit, his 
knowledge of Eoman law and Eoman affairs, made him a 
dreaded opponent, as he laid before his colleagues the list of 
their shortcomings. 

12. Prosecution of the two Scipios. — After the battle 
of Zama, Cato took an active part in the measures which led to 
the accusation of Scipio. When the tribune, at his instigation, 
preferred a charge against Lucius Scipio of being bribed 
by Antiochus, and Lucius was about to produce his accounts, 
his brother Africanus snatched them from his hand and tore 
them up, saying that it was unworthy for a man to be called 
to account for a few thousands, who had paid millions into 
the treasury. This haughty conduct contributed to the con- 
viction of Lucius, and he was sentenced to pay a heavy fine. 
As he was being led away to prison, Africanus attempted to 
liberate him, and a violent conflict was only averted by the 
interference of the tribune Tiberius Gracchus. In B. c. 185 
the tribune brought charges against Africanus himself; but 
the trial happened to come on the anniversary of the battle 
of Zama, and Scipio invited the people to follow him to the 
capitol and give thanks for the victory. After this he retired 
from Home to his country-seat at Liternum, where, after two 
years, he died and had this inscription placed on his tomb : 
" Ungrateful country ! you do not even possess my bones." 



B. C. 184.] THE IKTERKAL GOVERNMENT. 191 

13. Censorship of Cato. — Cato himself did not escape ; 
he was accused forty-four times, but the people always stood by 
him. In B.C. 184 he was elected censor with. Lucius Flaccus, 
and devoted himself with honesty and impartiality to the 
duties of his office. He restrained the farmers of the revenue, 
levied a heavy tax on articles of luxury, 1 forbade the celebration 
of the festival to Bacchus, and was chiefly influential in expel- 
ling the three Greek philosophers from Eome who had come to 
procure an abatement in the sum which the Athenians had been 
ordered to pay the Oropians. 2 In his old age Cato began to 
waver in his opposition to every thing foreign. He even applied 
himself to the study of Greek literature, and the love of gain 
caused him to invest his money in commercial speculations. 3 
Cato was honest but thoroughly narrow-minded; he restricted 
his ideas to Italy and was averse to the career of conquest which 
brought the states of the Mediterranean under the dominion 
of Eome. His measures, however, produced but little lasting 
effect, and the increase of wealth and the decay of the old re- 
publican virtues continued. 4 

14. The Character of the Roman Government. — Not- 
withstanding the evidences of disorder and decline that were 
visible in the government at home, in the administration of 
the provinces, and in the army, we must remember that the 
downward step was gradual ; that it took many ages of corrup- 

1 The opposition carried the lex Orchia (b. c. 182), which limited the number of guests 
at banquets, the lex Faunia (b. c. 162), the expense, and the lex Didia (b. c. 144), which 
made these restrictions applicable to the allies. Cato himself never allowed more than 
thirty asses (50 c.) for any meal ; no dress cost him more than 100 denarii ($21.50) ; no 
slave more than 1500 denarii ($325) ; he had no carpets in his house, often no wine on his 
table, and he partook ordinarily of the same fare with his servants. It was at this time 
that the booths {terberncti veteres and novce) and markets were removed from the forum, 
and the Basilica Porcia erected near the Curia Hostilia. 

2 See p. 165, n. 2. 

3 Cato never speculated in state leases nor practised usury. 

4 To the later generations who survived the storms of the revolution, the period after 
the Hannibalic war appeared the golden age of Eome, and Cato seemed the model of the 
Roman statesman. It was in reality the calm before the storm and an epoch of political 
mediocrities, an age like that of the government of Walpole in England ; and no Chat- 
ham was found in Rome to infuse fresh energy into the stagnant life of the nation. 
Wherever we cast our eyes, chinks and rents are yawning in the old building ; we see 
workmen busy sometimes in filling them up, sometimes in enlarging them, but we no- 
where perceive any .trace of preparations for thoroughly rebuilding or renewing it, and 
the question is no longer whether, but simply when, the structure will fall. During no 
epoch did the Roman constitution remain formally as stable as in the period from the 
Sicilian to the third Macedonian war, and for a generation beyond it ; but the stability 
of the constitution was here, as everywhere, not a sign of the health of the state, but a 
token of incipient sickness and the harbinger of revolution. — Mommsen, vol. ii., p. 384. 



192 THE INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. 

tion and mismanagement to break down the system of govern- 
ment based upon the character of a people with so much 
inherent energy and greatness as the Eoman nation. It was 
the hardy habits, the civic virtues, the willing submission to 
the power of the government, the sacrifice of the individual 
will to the national, that made the Romans a nation of war- 
riors and then the rulers of the world. These laid the elements 
of their political constitution, which at home remained for 
ages unchanged, and when carried to the provincials was felt 
by the subjects to be a blessing ; for it introduced a "govern- 
ment of laws, and not of men," 1 and the subjects clung to 
that constitution until abuses began to undermine its very 
foundations and converted it into an intolerable tyranny. 2 

15. Hellenic Influences. — If we turn to study the inner 
life of the nation, we shall find the old Eoman frugality and 
integrity disappearing, and signs of Hellenic and Oriental 
influence visible on every hand. We have already learned that 
Eome, even in the regal period, was subject to the influence of 
Greece, and that the Greek language and literature and par- 
ticularly the laws of the Greek states had been studied by the 
leading statesmen at Eome. We have already seen to what 
moral and social degradation Greece had been reduced when the 
people came most intimately in contact with Eome. The luxury 
and levity of manners, the vice and infidelity that came from 
Greece, did much to subvert the old Eoman frugality and piety. 
Cato opposed with energy and honesty the inroads that 
Greek indolence and Greek immorality were making on the 
Eoman character, but in vain. Greek literature and Greek ideas 
grew more and more attractive, and it became the fashion 
to laugh at Cato for his old-fashioned notions. There was, 
however, much truth in his denunciations. The literature of 
Greece had in some measure kept pace with the degeneracy of 
the country. Plato and Aristotle had been succeeded by Chry- 
sippus and Carneades ; Euripides and Menander had taken the 
place of ^Eschylus and Aristophanes. 3 

1 Livy ii. 1, 1 : im.peria lequm potentiora quam hominum. 

2 See^Ihne, vol. iii., p. 423. 3 Max Miiller, Lect, on Science of Lang., vol. i., p. 113- 



THE IOTEK^AL GOVEKNMENT. 193 

16. Philosophy and Religion. — It was particularly in 
the religious life that the influences from Greece were most 
deleterious. It was openly avowed by the enlightened classes 
that philosophy must take the place of religion, and that a 
belief in miracles and oracles was necessary to keep the masses 
in order. There were three schools of philosophy : the Stoic, 
the Epicurean, and the New Academy. The last two were 
always considered dangerous, but with the Stoic philosophy 
and the native religion a kind of compromise was effected. 
The Stoics professed to believe the popular faith, but with 
them Jupiter was the soul of the universe, and the statues of 
the gods were mere works of art, not representations of divin- 
ity. 1 Many Greek philosophers 2 lived in the house of the Scipios, 
which was the rendezvous of the select literary circle in Eome. 
Here the problems of Greek philosophy were discussed, the 
standard of good taste for classical Latin established. The 
influences that emanated from this " Scipionic circle " reacted 
powerfully and beneficially on the national literature. 

17. Oriental Superstitions. — The conquest of the East 
brought the Eomans in contact with various forms of super- 
stition, some of which were introduced into Italy. The wor- 
ship of Cybele, the Phrygian mother of the gods, was very popu- 
lar. A crowd of Chaldean horoscope-casters and Marsian bird- 
seers found their way to Italy and made a great impression on 
all classes, and even the leading men of the state had recourse 
to their omens. Measures of repression were adopted, but they 
were temporary in their effect, and wholly inadequate to root 
out the evil. Gradually these forms of superstition spread into 
every grade of society and into every corner of Italy, and men 
began to be perplexed in their old faith. 

18. Slave Labor. — We have already alluded to the injuri- 
ous results of slavery, how the chief part of the labor on the 
large estates and the vast tracts of pasture-land was performed by 
slaves. This system gave the rich a great advantage, from the 
fact that they could, with their retinue of slaves, produce at a 

1 Max Muller, 1. c. p. 115 ; Mommsen ii., p. 415 ff. 

2 The philosopher Pansetius, the historian Polybius, and the poets Lucilius and Ter- 
ence were welcome guests. 



194 THE IKTERKAL GOVERNMENT. [B. C. 218. 

cheaper rate than the small farmer, who, unable to compete 
with the system of farming on a large scale, gave up the con- 
test, sold his lot of land, and swelled the impoverished crowd 
that was swarming over Italy. His land was absorbed in the 
large estate of the rich landlord, and this evil, instead of being 
restrained, was ever on the increase. This inequality was indi- 
rectly encouraged by the government. Corn 1 was admitted 
from the provinces to the Koman market free of duty, and the 
Eoman farmers were compelled to give up the raising of grain 
and confine their attention to the production of oil, wine, and 
wool. 

19. Unfavorable Legislation. — The Claudian law (about 
b.c. 218), by excluding senators from commercial speculations, 
indirectly compelled them to invest their enormous capital in 
land. This helped to swallow up the little plot of the farmers, 
and add it to the great estates of the rich. Already the Eoman 
bankers 2 and money-lenders, 3 the crowd of brokers and specu- 
lators, had got control of the varied mercantile and moneyed 
transactions at home and in the provinces, and managed all of 
their different branches of business by means of slaves and f reed- 
men. The corporations that leased the custom dues, farmed 
the public revenues, contracted for furnishing supplies, or 
erecting public buildings, had these duties performed chiefly 
by slaves and freedmen. The various means of investing capital, 
combined with the unfavorable legislation, created a moneyed 
aristocracy, 4 discouraged the growth of a prosperous middle 
class, caused the small farmers to disappear and the absorption 
of their farms in the large estates, where the labor was per- 
formed by slaves under the supervision of a steward. 

1 In the second Punic war, a medimnus (11 bushels) of wheat had cost fifteen drachma 
($2.50), while grain afterwards so flowed into Italy from Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, that a 
medimnus of wheat cost four oboli (about 12 cents), and of barley two oboli. In b. c. 194 
more than 240,000 bushels of Sicilian grain was distributed, at 12 asses (20 cents) per 
bushel. In Cato's time Sicilian and Sardinian corn was sometimes sold in the Italian 
ports for the freight. The average price in the first and second centuries before Christ 
was one denarius 'for a modius, or about seventy cents per bushel (the average prices now 
is about eighty-five cents (in the provinces of Brandenburg and Pomerania from 1816-41); 
this difference is probably owing to the fall in the value of silver). In the time of Poly- 
bius victuals and lodgings at an inn in northern Italy cost on an average half an as 
(two-thirds of a cent) per day; a bushel of wheat was there worth one-third of a denarius, 
or about six cents. The result was that wheat-producing land was almost valueless, 
2 Argentanus, 3 Fmmtor. * Aft ochlocracy. 



SUMMABY. 

Fiest Punic War — b. c. 264-241. 



Cartilage. 



Form of 
Government* 



The Relations 

of Rome and 
Carthage. 



Cause of the 
War. 



Battle near 
Syracuse, 

B.C. 263. 



Capture of Ag- 
rigentum, 

B.C. 262. 



Rome Creates 
a Navy. 



Battle off Mylse, 

B.C. 260. 



Carthage was the most flourishing commercial city on 
the Mediterranean Sea. Its form of government was very 
similar to that of Rome ; there were two chief magis- 
trates, a senate, and a council of 104. The army was 
commanded by a dictator. At the time Carthage came 
in collision with Rome she was the first maritime power 
in the world. The Carthaginians and Romans for many 
years had maintained friendly relations, and had, as early 
as B.C. 348, formed a treaty with each other, which had 
been renewed in B. a 279. This alliance, however, had 
never possessed any real significance, and after the con- 
quest of Italy by the Romans the two nations began to 
regard each other with jealousy. The Carthaginians 
were aiming to secure possession of Sicily, and the Ro- 
mans wished, if they could not obtain the island for 
themselves, to have at least friendly and not too power- 
ful neighbors there. When it happened, therefore, that 
the Mamertines, who had seized Messana and were 
plundering the surrounding country, were on the point of 
being subdued by Hiero, King of Syracuse, and applied 
to Rome for assistance, she thought that this was a good 
opportunity to get a footing in Sicily, and without much 
hesitation dispatched an army to relieve the Mamer- 
tines. Before this army could arrive in Sicily, the Car- 
thaginians had effected a reconciliation between the 
Mamertines and Hiero. This made no difference to the 
Roman commander ; he crossed to Messana, persuaded 
the Mamertines to expel the Carthaginians from the 
town, and finally attacked and defeated Hiero and the 
Carthaginians near Syracuse. This energy on the part 
of the Romans alarmed Hiero, and he made a treaty 
with Rome, and ever afterwards remained a faithful ally. 
The next year the Romans captured Agrigentum. Nearly 
all of Sicily was now in the hands of the Romans. 

The necessity for a navy began now to be felt by the 
Romans. It was difficult to transport troops to Sicily, 
and the shores of Italy even were ravaged by the Car- 
thaginian fleet. The senate set about the work with 
such energy that in 60 days 120 ships 1 were launched, 
and soon after Gajus Duillius gained a great victory 
over the Carthaginians offMylae. 2 



1 Rome had not been hitherto a mere agricultural state, as is proved by many cir- 
cumstances: the port-dues on exports and imports at Ostia, the commercial treaties 
with Carthage, and the antiquity of the galley on the city arms. The Roman fleet, how* 
ever, was insignificant in comparison with that of Carthage. The Bomans had only 
triremes, and these were not fitted to contend with the larger and better manned quia* 
queremes of the Carthaginians. 

a See account of the boarding-bridges, p. 121 and note 4, 



196 



SUMMAEY. 



The Romans were now prepared either to invade 
Africa or to subdue the islands in the Mediterranean 
Sea. They adopted the latter course. Corsica and Sar- 
dinia were attacked, and the Carthaginian army was 
driven to the western end of Sicily. A victory at Tyn- 
daris encouraged the Romans to invade Africa. Regu- 
lus set sail with a fleet of 330 vessels and a large army, 
and after defeating the Carthaginians at Ecnomus landed 
at Clypea, but was defeated, and the fleet that was sent 
to bring back the remnant of his army was destroyed 
by a storm. The Romans, however, rebuilt their fleet 
and captured Panormus. 

A few years after Metellus gained a great victory at 
Panormus (b.c. 254). This was the turning point in the 
war ; henceforth it centres round Lilybaeum and Dre- 
pana, which the Romans found impossible to take on 
account of the brilliant strategy of Hamilcar, the father 
of Hannibal. At last, however, the great sea fight at 
the TEgatian Islands, where the Roman fleet was com- 
manded by Lutatius Catulus, decided the contest. The 
Carthaginians were exhausted ; their treasury * was 
empty, and they were glad to conclude a peace. 

All of Sicily except the territory of Hiero, who had 
been the firm ally of the Romans, passed into the hands 
of Rome ; it was organized as a province, 2 and governed 
by a praetor. The Carthaginians paid the cost of the 
war. The Romans had created a navy and wrested 
from the Carthaginians the sovereignty of the sea. 



Battle of 
Tyndaris, 

B.C. 257. 

Invasion of 
Africa, 

B.C. 256. 

Battle of 

Pan or m 11s, 

B.C. 250. 



The Battle at 
the iEgatian 
Islands, 

B.C. 241. 



Peace, 

B.C. 241. 



Carthage 
Weakened toy 
the War with 
the Mercena- 
ries, 
B.C. 241-236. 

War with the 
Gauls in N. 
Italy, 

B.C. 231-222. 

Battle of 

Telamon, 

B.C. 222. 

Illyrian Wars, 

B.C. 229-219. 



Interval between the First and Second 
Punic Wars— b. c. 241-218. 

During the interval between the First and Second 
Punic Wars both Rome and Carthage exerted them- 
selves to the utmost to consolidate and extend their 
power. N Carthage was weakened by the revolt of her 
mercenaries, whom she was unable to pay. Rome took 
this opportunity to wrest from Carthage Corsica and 
Sardinia. In addition to this the Romans subdued the 
Gauls in Northern Italy, defeating them at Telamon, and 
founded colonies to secure the possession of the country. 
On the eastern coast of the Adriatic the Romans sup- 
pressed the Illyrian piracy. In the meanwhile Carthage 
had found a compensation in Spain for the loss of Sicily. 
Hamilcar had really established a new empire in the 
west, and had made good the loss of Sicily, so that Car- 
thage was able to renew the war. 

Second Punic War— b. c. 218-202. 

When his preparations were completed, Hannibal, 
who had just come to the command of the Carthaginian 

* Tkey trjecl in yam to raise a loan in Egypt. 2 See p. 128 and n. 3, also p. 181. 



SUMMARY. 



197 



Siege of 
Sasfivutiiiii, 

B.C. 219. 

Battle at tlie 
Ticinus, 

B.C. 2l8. 

Battle at tlie 
Trel>ia, 

B.C. 2l8. 

Battle of Lake 
Trasimeims, 

B.C. 217. 

Fabian Policy. 



Battle of 
Caimse^ 

B.C. 2l6. 



Battle of Lb era, 

B.C. 215. 



Capture of New 
Cartilage, 

B.C. 207. 

Battle at 
Bsecula, 

B.C. 207. 

Conquest of 

Spain, 

B.C. 206. 



army, laid siege to Saguntum, a town in alliance with 
Rome. This led, as Hannibal expected, to a declara- 
tion of war. The next spring Hannibal set out with a 
well equipped army for the invasion of Italy. Crossing 
the Alps, he descended into the plains of the Po ; here 
he defeated the Romans under Scipio, first near the river 
Ticinus, and then at the Trebia. The next spring Hanni- 
bal crossed the Apennines, reached the upper Arno, and 
advanced past Arretium towards Perusia. In a narrow 
defile near Lake Trasimenus he defeated the consul 
Flaminius with terrible slaughter. After this battle 
Hannibal proceeded through Umbria and Picenum to 
the Adriatic, and sent news to Carthage of his great 
victories. The Romans appointed Fabius to the com- 
mand of their army, and he sought to avoid an engage- 
ment ; but the dissatisfaction became so great that the 
command was transferred to Paulus and Varro. A 
murderous battle was fought at Cannae, in which the 
Roman army was almost annihilated. Many of the na- 
tions in Southern Italy joined Hannibal, and particularly/ 
the Capuans, with whom Hannibal took up his winter 
quarters. The Romans, however, made greater efforts, 
and placed 21 legions in the field, but the next year 
passed without any decisive battle. 

War m Spain— b. c. 218-206. 

The two Scipios had been sent to Spain to prevent if 
possible Hasdrubal, whom Hannibal had left there in 
command, from sending reinforcements to Italy. They 
carried on the war at first with vigor, and defeated Has- 
drubal at Ibera. Many of the Spanish tribes joined the 
Romans. This enabled the Romans to cross the Ebro, 
take Saguntum, and to prepare even for the invasion 
of Africa. Hasdrubal, however, received large rein- 
forcements, and soon after defeated the Romans. Nearly 
all Spain was now lost to the Romans, and Hasdrubal 
was prepared to send reinforcements to his brother in 
Italy. The Romans, however, displayed that energy that 
had so often saved them in the crises of their fortune. A 
new army was raised and the command was entrusted 
to Publius Cornelius Scipio. Landing at Emporiae, he 
passed the winter in preparing for the campaign. He 
surprised and captured New Carthage, and soon after 
engaged Hasdrubal at Baecula ; the results were so far 
favorable to Hasdrubal that he wa,s able to carry out his 
plan to reinforce his brother in Italy. The departure of 
Hasdrubal left Spain an easy conquest for Scipio. 

War in Sicily— b.c. 214-210. 

While the war was going on in Italy Hannibal sent 
envoys to Sicily, and after the death of Hiero, the faith- 
ful friend of the Romans, the Carthaginian party gained 
possession of Syracuse. Marcellus, the Roman praetor, 



198 



SUMMARY. 



Siege of Syra- 
cuse, 

B.C. 214-212. 



Capture of Ta- 

r en tu 111, 

B.C. 212. 

Recapture of 
Capua, 

B.C. 211. 



The Battle of 
the MetauruSj 

B.C. 207. 



Invasion of 
Africa. 

Hannibal Re- 
called from 
Italy, 

B.C. 203. 

Battle of Zania, 

B.C. 202. 

Terms of Peace. 



Results of the 

War, 



Condition of 
Italy. 



soon appeared before the city, which after a stubborn 
siege fell into his hands. The other towns soon sub- 
mitted, and Roman rule was restored in Sicily. 

War in Italy — b. c. 214-203. 

While these events were going on in Spain and Sicily, 
Hannibal made but little progress in Italy. The war 
centred round Capua, which the Romans tried to re- 
cover, and round Tarentum, which Hannibal wished to 
capture. The next year the Romans recovered Capua, 
and two years later Fabius Maximus recaptured Taren- 
tum. Hannibal's only hope of successfully continuing 
the war rested in procuring aid from his brother Has- 
drubal. In the year b. c. 207 Hasdrubal crossed the 
Alps and reached Northern Italy, where he waited for 
news from his brother. The consul Nero, who was 
watching Hannibal, managed to intercept Hasdrubal's 
despatch, and without the knowledge of Hannibal to 
leave his camp, join his colleague Livius Silinator near 
Sena, and with their united forces completely defeat 
Hasdrubal. This ended the war in Italy. Hannibal 
withdrew to Southern Italy. The time had now come for 
the invasion of Africa. Scipio was elected consul (for 
B.C. 205), and in B.C. 204 completed his preparations and 
landed near Utica. Hannibal was recalled from Italy, 
and the decisive battle was fought near Zama. The Car- 
thaginian army was annihilated and Carthage was com- 
pelled to make peace. The terms of the peace were : (1) 
Carthage gave up all of her territory beyond Africa ; 
(2) she could engage in no war, neither in Africa nor 
out of Africa, without the consent of Rome ; (3) she must 
give up all prisoners and deserters ; (4) the payment of 
an annual war-contribution of 200 talents for 50 years ; 
(5) the surrender of all her fleet except 20 vessels ; (6) 
the recognition of Massinissa as King of Numidia. 

The results of the war were great for Rome. (1.) 
Carthage was removed from the position of a rival to 
that of a small dependent state. (2.) The Roman do- 
minion was increased by the acquisition of Spain, which 
was divided into two provinces, and by the territory of 
Syracuse, which was added to the province of Sicily. 
(3.) The Roman protectorate was extended to the native 
tribes in Africa. (4.) The complete supremacy of the 
sea was transferred to Rome, and the way was opened 
for the great conflict with the East. (5.) The war tended 
further to consolidate the Roman power in Italy. The 
nations in Italy — as the Bruttii, Apulians, Samnites, and 
the Greek cities — that had joined Hannibal were deprived 
of a part of their land, and colonies were established 
there. The fetters were riveted more firmly on the Urn- 
brians and Etruscans, and everywhere except in Latium 
the Roman dominion pressed more heavily. It is reck- 
oned that during the war 400 flourishing towns were 



SUMMARY. 



198a 



destroyed in Italy ; slaves and robber-bands haunted 
every corner of Italy. As many as 7,000 men were con- 
demned for robbery in Apulia alone in one year (B.C. 185). 

Wars with the East — b. c. 214-146. 

The nations around the western part of the Mediter- 
ranean acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. The 
treaty which Philip had made with Hannibal after the 
battle of Cannae had opened the way for Rome to inter- 
fere in the affairs of the East. In B. c. 273 Rome had 
entered into friendly relations with Egypt, and her wars 
with the Illyrian pirates 1 had brought her in contact 
with the ^Etolians. Finally, the alliance of Philip with 
Hannibal had compelled her to send a fleet to the Adri- 
atic.' 2 Rome had then been drawn on without any design 
on her part to interfere in the affairs of the East. 

The First Macedonian War was barren of results. 
After the conclusion of peace with Carthage the Ro- 
mans prepared to renew the war with Macedonia, for 
which Philip had given sufficient cause. He had sent 
troops to fight at the battle of Zama ; he had commenced 
war against Egypt, the ally of Rome, and also against 
Attalus and the Rhodians, both friendly to Rome, and 
one was protected by a treaty. War was declared and 
a Roman army sent to Macedonia. After two unsuc- 
cessful campaigns, Flamininus was appointed to the 
command. He defeated Philip at Cynoscephalae. Tliis 
battle was decisive. Philip was compelled to withdraw 
his garrisons from the Greek cities, to surrender his 
fleet, and to pay 1000 talents. 

The ^Etolians had formed a treaty with Rome, but 
feeling that they had been unjustly treated, and that the 
success of the Romans was mainly due to their efforts, 
they began to intrigue against Rome, and invited An- 
tiochus of Syria to their assistance. The king crossed 
to Greece, but the Romans defeated him at Thermopylae. 
Antiochus returned to Asia, but the Romans followed 
and defeated him again at Magnesia. This battle ended 
the war. Antiochus had to give up all of his possessions 
west of the Taurus range, to surrender his fleet, and to 
pay 1500 talents (= $20,000,000). The Romans now had 
time to punish the JEtolians. They were defeated and 
Ambracia, their chief town, taken. The ^Etolians now 
sued for peace. Their confederacy was dissolved, and 
^Etolia, like Macedonia, became tributary to Rome. 

In B. c. 179 Philip died, and was succeeded by his son 
Perseus. Perseus was popular, and the Greeks them- 
selves began to see through the designs of Rome, that 
independence was impossible, and that the choice really 
lay between subjection to Rome or Macedonia. Rome 
watched the preparations made by Perseus, and when 



Causes of 

Rome's 

Interference* 



First Macedo- 
nian War, 
B.C. 214-205. 



Second Mace- 
donian War, 

B.C. 2OO-I96. 

Battle of 
Cynoscephalse, 

B.C. I97. 



Syro-iEtolian 
War, 

B.C. I92-189. 

Battle of 
Thermopylae, 

B.C. 191. 

Battle of 
Magnesia. 

B.C. I90. 

War with the 

iEtoliaiis. 

B.C. 180. 



Terms of Peace. 



The Third 

Ma cedonian 

War, 

B.C. I7I-I68. 



1 See p. 



» See p. 109, 



1985 



SUMMARY. 



Battle of 

Pydna, 

B.C. 168. 



Universal 

Dominion of 

Jtioine. 



Rome's Policy 

in Dealing 
with the De- 
pendent States. 



Achsean War, 

B.C. 147-I46. 



Destruction of 
Corinth, 

B.C. I46. 

Third Pnnic 
War, 

B.C. I49-I46. 

Destruction of 
Carthage, 

B.C. I46. 



she felt that longer delay would be fatal to her interests 
war was declared. A Roman army landed in Epirus, 
and defeated Perseus at Pydna. Macedonia was broken 
up into four separate states, which paid an annual trib- 
ute to Rome. Illyria was divided into three states. 
From this battle the universal dominion of Rome is 
dated. All subsequent wars were mere rebellions. 

Rome left the countries to govern themselves. Still 
she interfered. She sent commissioners, who visited 
the different states, acted as referees in disputes, and 
fomented quarrels on every hand. Rome's policy was 
to maintain and strengthen her friends as counterpoise 
to her foes. When the foes were subjugated the friends 
were no longer needed, and she quarreled with them. 
Hence, when Macedonia was subjugated a coolness 
arose between Rome and her eastern allies, Pergamus 
and Rhodes, and they were both punished. 

The Aclrseans gave Rome the pretext for converting 
Greece into a province. 1 They joined the standard of 
revolt raised by Andriscus, a pretended son of Per- 
seus. They were, however, quickly defeated, and the 
consul Mummius gave orders to destroy Corinth, where 
the remnant of the Achaean army had taken refuge. 
This removed one of Rome's commercial rivals ; one 
still remained, and to this the Romans now directed 
their attention. Cato simply expressed the general sen- 
timent when he said that Carthage must be destroyed. 
Rome therefore determined to destroy Carthage and to 
form Africa into a province. After a siege of three 
years, Carthage was stormed by Scipio and blotted from 
the face of the earth. 



Celtiberian 
War, 

B.C. 154. 



Capture of 
Numantia, 

B.C. 133. I 



The Wars in the West. 

While Rome was extending her empire in the East, 
her authority was fiercely disputed by the wild tribes in 
the West. Spain was far from being subdued, and con- 
stant wars were carried on with the natives. When the 
Romans ordered the Celtiberians to desist from enlarg- 
ing their town, they refused and prepared for war. The 
same year the Lusitanians revolted, and the different 
Spanish tribes were united under the leadership of Viri- 
athus. When he fell by treachery (b. c. 140), the Qelti- 
berians took refuge in Numantia, and prolonged the war 
for ten years. When Numantia surrendered all serious 
resistance in Spain was at an end. 



1 The change in Rome's policy must be noted. When Macedonia was first conquered 
Rome was unwilling to undertake the government of more dependencies. Her experi- 
ment in Spain had been far from successful. Accordingly she left the conquered coun- 
tries to rule themselves, while she watched over them, and weakened them by separa- 
tion. Eighteen years of trial had proved how injurious this plan was. Rome therefore 
determined to end this and reduce the conquered countries to provinces, and at the 
same time, as the best means of advancing her interests, to destroy Qorinth and Car- 
thage, her commercial rivals in the western world, 




The Modern Capitol. 1 



PERIOD OF CIVIL DISSENSIONS. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The Agrarian Law of Tiberius Gracchus (B. C. 133). 

1. The Causes of the Civil Troubles. — We have now 
reached a period in the history of the Eoman state when foreign 
wars became few and unimportant. The Eoman dominion was 
undisputed, and Eoman law and Eoman customs had found 
their way to three continents and inspired the people with rev- 

1 The staircase leads to the Piazza del Campidoglio, or Square of the Capitol ; at the 
foot are the two Egyptian lions and at the top the horse-taming Dioscuri (Castor and Pol- 
lux, once in the theatre of Pompey; see p. 414). At the side of the Dioscuri are the so- 
called trophies of Marius (these were taken from the water-tower of the Aqua Claudia) 
and the statues of the Emperor Constantine and his son Constans (taken from the baths 
of Constantine on the Quirinal). To the right is the ancient milestone of the Via Appia. 
In the centre is the magnificent equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius*(P- 467). It was 
originally placed in the forum near the arch of S. Severus. In 1187 it was transferred 
near the Lateran, and to its present position in 1533. Its excellent state of preservation 
is due to the belief that it was the statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Be- 



200 THE AGRARIAN LAW. [B. C. 133. 

erence and admiration. For many generations the Komans 
had been so intent in bringing to a successful issue the career 
of conquest on which they had entered, that they had given 
but little attention to the condition of affairs at home. The 
pressure of poverty had been alleviated by the long wars that 
thinned the population and thus relieved the labor market, by 
the distribution of plunder, and by the colonies 1 planted in 
various parts of Italy. But now there were no more lands in 
Italy to be confiscated and no more nations to be conquered. 
The labor market was overcrowded, and it became more difficult 
from year to year for a poor man to earn a living. Besides, a 
genuine Roman was too proud to carry on any useful craft, and 
regarded all kinds of business as a mild sort of slavery, only 
fit for slaves, freedmen, and foreigners. 2 

2. The Necessity for Reform. — The provisions of the 
Licinian law had been disregarded for so many generations 
that the land in Italy 3 was all in the possession of a few noble 
houses. Instead of having this land cultivated partly by free 
laborers, as the Licinian law prescribed, which would have 
relieved the labor market and averted the evils that threat- 
ened the state, the possessors found it more profitable to em- 
ploy slaves, which, the wars in the East had made cheap. The 
result was that the large body of poor Roman freemen, cut 
off from every means of obtaining wealth — the occupation 
of the public land, the farming of the revenue, and the gov- 
ernment of the provinces — and now unable to obtain work on 
the very land that they had won by their blood and toil, were 
left without means of support, and flocked to the capital to 
swell the impoverished crowd that fed on the bounty of the 
rich. 4 



yond this statue is the Palazzo del Senatore, erected in 1389 on the site of the ancient 
Tabularium by Michael Angelo. The top of the tower is embellished by a standing 
figure of Roma. The palace on the right is the Conservators, or Town Hall ; on the 
opposite side is the Capitoline Museum. 

1 The last Italian colony was sent to Luna in b. c. 177. 

2 Cic de Of., i. 42. 

3 It was reserved for G. Gracchus to propose a system of transmarine colonization. 
See p. 210. 

4 As the Latins had long been waiting to be admitted to the privileges of Roman citi- 
zens, they thronged to Rome, and the Italians to Latium, 



B. C. 133.] THE AGRAEIAK LAW. 201 

3. The Government Unable to Afford Relief. — The 

government, controlled by a few noble houses which found 
their centre in the senate, was both unable and unwilling to 
afford relief. The leading aim of the new nobility was to 
maintain its usurped 1 privileges and exclude all "new men" 
from a share in the government. If some one could restore 
the lands and love of labor to the people, limit the vast power 
of the senate, restrain the cupidity of the capitalists, and arrest 
the flood of slaves that was pouring in from all parts of the 
world to spread over Italy and destroy its free population, 2 such 
a statesman could restore the wasted energies of the Roman 
state. 3 Lselius and Scipio ^Emilianus 4 had recognized the peril 
that threatened the state, and had proposed agrarian measures 
of reform (b. c. 148) ; but when these met with determined op- 
position from the nobles, they gave them up as impracticable. 
It must be remembered that the nobles, from long possession, 
regarded the public land as their own. Many had acquired their 
vast estates by purchase, inheritance, or marriage, and against 
one who interfered with their interests the whole body of the 
nobility rose as one man. If anything could have opened the 
eyes of the nobility, the woeful condition of Sicily must have 
been sufficient; for the servile war was then at its height and 
was sweeping all before it. Matters, however, went on in their 
old way, and the government drifted, like a shattered ship be- 
fore the storm, with no statesman at the helm. The old contest 
between government and governed, the old conflict between 
labor and capital was renewed, and it was only a question of 
time who should deal the first blow. 

4. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. — Two brothers, Ti- 
berius Sempronius and Gajus Gracchus, came forward to remedy 
the evils in the state. They were the sons of that Tiberius Sem- 

1 That is, to restrict re-election to the consulship in order that its honors might be 
enjoyed by a larger number. In b. c. 217 the law prohibiting re-election (see p. 82) was 
suspended under the pressure of the war with Hannibal down to b. c. 203. From B.C. 
207 to b. c. 153 not one was re-elected in violation to the ten years 1 interval. The repeated 
election of Marcus Marcellus led to a law (about b.c. 151) prohibiting re-election altogether. 

2 The census returns show a regular falling off in the number of citizens from b. c. 
159, when the number capable of bearing arms was 328,000 ; b. c, 154, 324,000 ; b. c. 147, 
322,000; b.c. 131,319,000. 

;t See Michelet, p. 259. 

* gee Plut. Life of Tib. Gracchus, 



202 THE AGRARIAN LAW. [b. C. 133. 

pronius Gracchus, 1 whose prudent measures had given tranquillity 
to Spain for so many years. The first sought to relieve the social 
condition of the poor, and to restore the small farmers in Italy ; 
the other placed the axe at the root of the evil, and attempted 
to break down the power of the senate. At an early age they lost 
their father, but their education was carefully attended to by 
their mother, the highly cultivated Cornelia, the daughter of P. 
Scipio Africanus the elder. Tiberius was nine years older than 
his brother, and had been military tribune in the army of his 
brother-in-law, P. Cornelius Scipio ^Emilianus, where he was 
the first to scale the walls of Carthage. As augur he came into 
intimate relations with Appius Claudius Pulcher, 2 the chief of 
the senate, and a man decidedly favorable to reform. 3 He 
established his popularity 4 as qusestor in Spain, where, by his 
influence, the army of Mancinus was saved from great peril. 
The rejection of the treaty by the senate, which Mancinus had 
concluded with the Numantines and which Tiberius had signed 
and guaranteed, caused his alienation from the party of the 
optimates. 5 

4. His Measures for Reform. — On his return from Spain 
Tiberius was elected tribune of the plebs, and. entered upon his 
office December 10, b. c. 134. After consulting with his father-in- 

1 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

Tiberius Gracchus 
m. Cornelia, daughter of P. Scipio Africanus major. 



Tlb. Gracchus. G. Gracchus. Sempronia m. 

P. Scipio Africanus minor. 

3 See page 125. 

3 Tiberius, in the following words, recounted from the rostra his own vivid impressions 
of the evils that beset Italy and the people : "For, among such numbers, perhaps there 
is not a Roman who has an altar that belonged to his ancestors, or a sepulchre in which 
their ashes rest. The private soldiers fight and die to advance the wealth and luxury of 
the great ; and they are called masters of the world, while they have not a foot of land 
in their possession."— Plut. Ti. Gr. 

* Plutarch records as a striking proof of the esteem in which Tiberius was held the offer 
which A. Claudius made him of his daughter in marriage at an augural banquet, and the 
answer which Appius received from his wife when he returned home and informed her 
of what he had done : " Antistia, I have promised our daughter Claudia in marriage ; " 
"Why in such haste, 11 said the mother, "unless you have promised her to Tiberius 
Gracchus ; " see Genealogical Table, p. 125. 

5 That is, the senatorial party, consisting of both patricians and plebeians. Although 
not recognized by law as a distinct class, still the optimates endeavored by all means in 
their power to secure exclusive possession of its curule offices and the public land ; the 
popular party began at this time to receive the name of populafes. 



B.C. 133.] THE AGRARIAN LAW. 203 

lawAppius Claudius, with Publius Crassus Mucianus thepontifex 
maximus, and with P. Mucius Scaevola the great lawyer, he 
brought forward his measures 1 for reform, 2 planned with great 
care and with all possible regard to the interests of those in pos- 
session of the public land. 3 He proposed a re-enactment of the 
Licinian law, which in fact had never been repealed, but with 
certain additions suitable to the exigencies of the times. 4 Tibe- 
rius discussed his proposals before the people; 5 he pictured 
the deserted condition of Italy, the distress of the poor classes, 
as worse even than that of the beasts of the fields, 6 and appealed 
to the patriotism of the rich. The propositions met, however, 
with intense opposition. The nobility prevailed upon the 
tribune Octavius, one of his own colleagues, to interpose his 
veto Tiberius, however, pushed his measures with zeal, in- 
duced the people to depose Octavius, 7 and finally succeeded in 
carrying his proposals. A commission 8 was appointed and 

1 Lex Sempronia agraria. 

2 Gracchus relied chiefly upon the popular party, the populares, for support. There 
was also a small party in the senate, headed by the distinguished names mentioned in the 
text, which favored him ; this party was deserted by Scipio in the beginning of the con- 
test ; deprived of his influence a peaceful settlement of the troubles became more diffi- 
cult. This makes the statement of Cicero {deBep. i. 19) clear, that the death of Gracchus 
divided the senate into two parties, and that P. Crassus, A. Claudius, and P. Mucius 
Scawola, were the opponents of Scipio. 

3 Veteres possessores. 

4 The lex Sempronia allowed each father, (1) beside the five hundred jugera for him- 
self, two hundred and fifty for each of his sons that were under the patria potestas , pro- 
vided the whole quantity did not exceed one thousand, jugera : (2) the rest of the public 
domain was to be divided into lots of thirty jugera, and was to be leased in perpetuity to 
Roman citizens at a moderate rent (vectigal) ; (3) the appointment of a standing com- 
mission of three {tresviri agris clandis assignandis elected in the concilium ptebis) to 
carry the provisions of the law into force ; (4) the indemnification was to be made for 
improvements, buildings, etc., to the former holders. According to Mommsen (1. c. vol. 
iii., p. 94) the Italian allies were to be admitted to a share in the land, but this seems 
hardly probable if we consider the feeling of the Roman citizens against the Latins and 
Italian allies (see Lange, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 10). It must be kent in view that the agrarian 
law did not meddle with private property, nor with the lands that were let on lease as 
the Campaman lands (ar/er Campanvs). It simply proposed to divide the state lands (the 
possessors had almost wholly neglected to pay the rent due the state for its use) among 
the poor Roman citizens, and to prevent the rich from buying up the allotments by pre- 
scribing that they should be inalienable. 

5 In contiones. 

6 Tiberius had observed the deserted condition of Italy in his journey through Etruria 
to join the army m the Numantine war (b. c. 137\ In the following words he recounted 
from the rostra his own vivid imnression of the evils that beset Italy : " The wild 
beasts have their dens and caves, while the men who fought and died in defence of Italy 
enjoy indeed the light and air, but nothing else ; houseless, nnd without a spot of 
land to rest upon, they wander about with their wives and children, while their com- 
manders do but mock them when thev exhort the soldiers in battle to fi^ht for their 
tombs and the temples of their gods. For among so many Romans not one has a family 
altar or an ancestral tomb; they fio-ht to maintain the luxury and wealth of the great, 
and they are called masters of the world without possessing a clod of earth that theV 
can call their own." -Plut. Tib. Gr. 8. 

7 This was a violation of the lex mcrata : see r>. 58. 

8 Consisting of Tib. Gracchus, his brother Gajus, and A. Claudius his father-in-law. 



204 THE AGRARIAN LAW. [b. C. 133. 



commenced its work. Now the difficulties began to multiply. 
The lands had remained undisturbed so many years in the 
hands of the possessors that it was impossible to decide which 
was public * or which was private 2 property. The question ought 
to have been referred to the consuls or to the senate ; but in- 
stead of this Tiberius carried a law that empowered the com- 
missioners to decide 3 which was private and which was public 
land. The senate refused to make the necessary appropriation 
for the expenses of the commissioners. 4 Still the work went on. 
Tiberius, when his popularity began to wane, proposed new 
laws 5 which embittered the senatorial party more and more. 
Scipio Nasica 6 and Q. Pompejus openly declared that they 
would impeach him as soon as his year of office expired. 

5. Efforts to Re-elect Gracchus.— Tiberius saw that 
his only safety lay in the sanctity of the tribune's office, and 
thereupon determined to become a candidate for re-election. 
In order to gain new allies he promised the people to carry 
a law 7 limiting the term of military service, to confer upon the 
equestrian order 8 the right to furnish one-half of the jurors 9 
who had hitherto been taken wholly from the senate, the exten- 
sion of the right of appeal to civil cases, and finally the admis- 
sion of the Italian allies to Eoman citizenship. The time of 
election occurred in June, when the country people were en- 
gaged in field labor and but few of them could come to the 
election. When the day of voting came the nobles inter- 
rupted the election by declaring that no votes could be received 

1 Ager publicus. 2 Ager privatus. 3 Liv. Ep. 58. 

4 Only 24 asses (about 25 cents) was allowed daily. 

5 About this time Attalus, king of Pergamus (see p. 179, § 7), bequeathed his kingdom 
and treasures to the Roman people. Tiberius proposed that the treasures should be divided 
among the people to enable them to stock their farms. 

6 P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapion. 7 Lex militaris. 8 See p. 210, n. 6. 

9 It was not customary for a Roman magistrate to investigate the facts in dispute in 
such matters as were brought before him. For this purpose he appointed a judge {judex) ; 
the whole civil procedure was expressed by jus, comprehending all that took place before 
the magistrate, and. judicium, all that took place before the judex. The judicia were either 
to settle disputes between individuals (privata) or to punish crimes (publico). Before 
the lex Valeria de provocations (p. 53) the king or consul presided in all cases that 
affected the caput or rights of a Roman citizen (see p. 109) ; after that, persons called 
quatsitores were appointed, and later permanent magistrates were appointed, called ques- 
tion es perpetual ; later still a special body of judices was chosen for trying these cases ; 
these were selected from the senators, and as many of those who were tried in the qum- 
tiones perpetuce (p. 183, n.) belonged to the optimates, it often happened that they were 
acquitted when impartial judges would have convicted them. Hence the popular party 
strove either to exclude the optimates, or at least to be admitted themselves to the office 
of judex. 



B.C. 133.] THE AGBAKIAK LAW. 205 

for Tiberius because it was illegal to re-elect a tribune. 1 A vio- 
lent debate ensued, and the assembly adjourned till the follow- 
ing day. The next day the assembly met on the Capitoline hill, 2 
in front of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. An immense con- 
course of friends and foes assembled, and it was evident that a 
conflict was imminent. The rumor spread that the senators in- 
tended to murder Tiberius. In the disturbance that followed, 
as Tiberius raised his hand to his head, some cried that he was 
asking for the diadem, others that he only wished to indicate 
that his life was in danger. 

6. Murder of Tiberius. — - In the sitting of the senate 
which was held close by in the temple of Fides, 3 Scipio Nasica 
required the consul, P. Mucius Scaevola, to put down the ty- 
rant ; the consul replied, "that he would not begin to use 
violence, nor would he put any citizen to death who was not 
legally condemned ; but, if Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, 
either by force or by fraud, should obtain a pleiiscitum con- 
trary to the constitution, he would not ratify it." Then Scipio 
Nasica started up and exclaimed : " The first 4 consul betrays the 
republic ; let those who wish to save it follow me." 5 He then 
rushed from the senate-chamber, followed by a crowd of sen- 
ators. The people timidly gave way as they saw the nobles rush- 
ing to the capitol. Arming themselves with staves and broken 
benches, they fell upon Tiberius and his attendants. The 
tribune fled for refuge to the temple of Jupiter, but the priests 
had closed the doors. He was at length overtaken and killed 
by one of his pursuers. 6 Three hundred of his friends fell with 
him, and their bodies were cast into the Tiber. This was the 
first time that blood had been shed in civil strife at Rome since 
the days of the kings. 

7. The Results. — The nobles, in order to reconcile the peo- 
ple, allowed the agrarian law to stand, 7 and as the party favor- 

1 The re-election of a magistrate within the space of ten years was forbidden in b. c, 
342. See p. 82. 2 In the Area Capitolina. 3 Also on the Capitoline Hill. 

4 The elder consul usually presided at the meetings of the senate. 

5 Plut. Ti. Gr. 19. 6 By P. Saturejus or L. Kufus. 

7 New difficulties arose because the "possessors" neglected to make returns of the 
public land in their possession. The commissioners gave notice that they would take the 
evidence of any person who would give them information. A great crop of difficult suits 
soon sprung up. Land which bordered on the public land, and had been sold or distrib- 



206 THE LAWS OF GAJUS GRACCHUS. [B.C. 132. 

able to reform gained the ascendancy for a time in the senate, 
the law was carried into execution. The popular feeling was 
so strong against Scipio ISTasica, 1 that, fearing for his life, the 
senate, in order to remove him from Italy, commissioned him 
to go, on pretended business, 2 to Asia, where after a few years 
he died of vexation and despair. 



chapter xxxi. 
The Laws of Gajus Gracchus. 

1. Death of Scipio iEmilianus. — While the commis- 
sioners were engaged in their work, removing the old land- 
marks, confiscating land that had been secured to the Latins 
and Italian allies by treaties, Scipio iEmilianus returned from 
Numantia. The senate was very sharply divided into two par- 
ties, and Scipio seemed disinclined to join either. He found 
little favor with the people, because when Carbo 3 asked him in 
the popular assembly what he thought of the death of Tiberius, 
he replied that " he was justly slain." 4 When the multitude ex- 
pressed its displeasure, he boldly said : " Cease your noise, ye step- 
sons of Italy ; do ye think by your clamor to frighten me, who 
am used unterrified to hear the shouts of embattled hosts?" 
The Latins and the allies, and all who had been deprived of their 

uted among the allies, was all subjected to investigation for the purpose of ascertaining 
the limits of the public land, and the owners were required to show how this land had 
been sold and how it had been assigned. All persons could not produce the instruments 
of sale nor the evidence of the assignments ; and when the titles were found there was 
matter for dispute in them. Now, when the land was surveyed anew, some were re- 
moved from land planted (with vines, olives, and the like) and with buildings on it, to 
land which was lying waste ; and others from land under cultivation to uncultivated 
lands, or marshes or swamps ; for neither had they originally, as we might expect in the 
case of land acquired by war, made any exact measurement of it, and the public notice, 
that any man might cultivate the land which was not assigned or distributed, had led 
many to till the parts (of the public land) which bordered on their own, and so to con- 
found them together. Time also as it went on made many changes. Thus the wrong that 
the rich had done, though great, was difficult to ascertain exactly ; and there was a gen- 
eral disturbance of everything, men being removed from one place and transferred to 
another. — Appian, 1. c. 1. 18, quoted by Long, 1. c. p. 223. 

1 As he took one day the hardened hand of a laborer whose vote he was soliciting, he 
asked him " if he walked on his hands." — Vol. Max. vii. 5. 

2 Legatio libera. 

3 Elected with Fulvius Flaccus to the two vacancies on the commission. 

4 When the death of Tiberius was announced to him at Nnmantia. he simply ex- 
claimed in the words of Athena at the fate of ^Eo:isthus (Od. i. 47) : " So perish he, who- 
e'er he be, that doth such deeds again.' 1 — Pint. Ti. Gr. 21. 



B.C. 129.] THE LAWS OF GAJUS GRACCHUS. 207 



land, crowded to the capital. 1 Scipio took up their cause and 
induced the senate to transfer all cases of disputed boundary to 
the consuls for decision. The consuls, alarmed at the difficulties, 
left Italy, and as no one appeared before the commissioners, the 
distribution of the public land ceased. The hatred of the pop- 
ular party burst forth against Scipio. One night after a stormy 
day in the senate and the forum that rang with the cry, " Down 
with the tyrant," he retired to his home. The next morning he 
was found dead in his bed. The belief was general that one of 
the popular party 2 had assassinated him; but according to 
Cicero he died a natural death. 3 Gajus Laelius, his devoted 
friend, composed the funeral oration, and his old opponent, 
Metellus Macedonicus, then censor, bade his sons pay reyerence 
to the conqueror of Africa, Asia, and Spain. 4 

2. Party Strife. — -After the death of Scipio the agita- 
tion of parties raged still more fiercely. To the old conflict 
between the impoverished Eoman citizen on the one side, and 
the capitalist and senatorial class on the other, was added 
now the claims of the Latins and the Italian allies to the fran- 
chise. They crowded more and more into the capital, introduced 
themselves into the tribes, and helped to add disorder to the pub- 
lic assemblies. The popular leaders, perceiving the mistake they 
had made in alienating the Latins and the Italians, now took 
up their cause, hoping to find in them the means of crush- 
ing the power of the senate. The nobility adopted measures 



1 When the arbitrary acts of the commissioners were unendurable, the Italians deter- 
mined to adopt Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, as their protector against the manifold 
acts of injustice inflicted upon them. He did not refuse his aid. He proceeded to the 
senate, gave a long review of the difficulties, and concluded by proposing that the cog- 
nizance of the disputes should be transferred to the consul Tuditanus. The latter had 
scarcely entered upon his duties when, alarmed at the difficulties, he departed for Illyria. 
No one, however, appeared before the commissioners for settlement of claims. The 
state of things excited great indignation against Scipio. His enemies said that he in- 
tended to abrogate the agrarian law altogether.— Appian Q. c). 

2 G. Papirius Carbo or Fulvius Flaccus. 

3 Cic. Lael. 3, 12. Appian (1. c.) says that Scipio had retired with his tablets to pre- 
pare a speech for the following day. In the morning he was found dead, but without 
any wound on his person. According to some, he was murdered by the instigation of 
Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, who feared the repeal of the agrarian laws, and of 
her daughter, Sempronia, Scipio's wife, who, ugly and disagreeable, was disliked by her 
husband. Some say that he destroyed himself because unable to accomplish what he 
had undertaken. His slaves, on being put to torture, confessed that during the night 
some strangers had entered through the private door and strangled their master. 

* ltefilii, celebrate exequias, nunquam civis majoris fumus videbitis. — Plin. n. h. vii., 



208 TEE LAWS OF GAJUS GBACCHUS. [b. C. 125. 

of repression. A law was carried banishing all aliens t from 
Eome (b. c 126). 

3. Revolt of Fragellae (b. c. 125). — The next year the 
popular party succeeded in electing Fulvius Flaccus to the 
consulship. He proposed a law for granting the right of citi- 
zenship to the allies, and therefore a vote in the popular assem- 
blies. The senate removed him from Eome by sending him on a 
foreign mission. G-. Gracchus had already departed (b. c. 126) as 
proquaestor to Sardinia, so that the senate was now freed from 
its most troublesome opponents, and the Italians had lost 
their two most powerful patrons. The Italians were bitterly 
disappointed when Flaccus's bill was rejected. The old Latin 
colony, Fragellae (Ceprano), rashly raised the standard of revolt. 
The town was taken and razed to the ground, and the inhab- 
itants dispersed throughout Italy. 2 The vigorous policy of 
Kome alarmed the allies, and the revolt spread no farther. 

4. Gr. Gracchus Elected Tribune. — Gajus Gracchus 
meanwhile suddenly appeared in Eome 3 and presented himself 
to the people as a candidate for the tribunate. 4 He was elected 
for the year b. c. 123 in an unusually large assembly of the peo- 
ple, who crowded from the colonies and municipal towns in 
Italy to Eome to vote for him. Still, such was the influence of 
the aristocracy, that Gajus was returned fourth on the list of 
tribunes, but his impassioned eloquence and his extraordinary 
abilities soon made him first in influence and power. 5 



1 Perigrini. 

2 The right of citizenship was probably granted to part of the allies ; this would ac- 
count for the great increase in the census from 318,823 in b. c. 182, to 394,726 in b. c. 125. 
Mommsen (1. c. iii., p. 107) attributes this increase to allotments made by the commis- 
sioners ; see Liv. Ep., 60 : also Lange, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 28. 

3 He proved to the censor that his return was conformable to law, as he had served 
twelve years though required to serve but ten, and two years as quaestor. He also freed 
himself from all implication in the revolt of Fragellse.— Ant. Gel. Ixii., c. 15; Kut. C. 
Gr.S. 

4 Cicero relates that when Gajus avoided all offices and had resolved to live retired 
from public life, his mother appeared to him in a dream and thus addressed him : 
" Why dost thou linger, Gajus? There is no alternative. The fates have decreed us one 
life and one death in defence of the people."— Pint. C. Gr. 2. 

5 Plutarch (in life G. Gr.) gives a vivid description of his wonderful powers as an ora- 
tor. In the character and expression of his countenance, in his movements, Tiberius 
was mild and sedate. Gajus was animated and carried all by the impetuous torrent of 
his words. When Tiberius harangued the people, he stood still ; but Gajus was the first 
Roman that moved about on the rostra, and pulled his toga from his shoulder while he 
was speaking, as Cleon the Athenian is said to have been the first popular orator who 
threw his cloak from him. The manner of Gajus was awe-striking and vehemently im- 



B. C. 123.] THE LAWS 0£ GAJUS GRACCHUS. 209 

5. The Sempronian Laws (b. c. 123-2).— Gajus came for- 
ward with measures of reform which were more general and 
more sweeping than those of his brother. His first proposal, 
intended to deter any tribune from repeating the opposition 
of Octayius, forbade a magistrate who had been deposed by 
the people from holding any office again. 1 He then aimed a 
blow against Popillius Laenas, who had procured the sentence of 
banishment and death against the adherents of Tiberius by ex- 
tending the Porcian law 2 so that capital punishment in case of 
Eoman citizens was entirely abolished. After this Gajus carried 
a series of measures, which are known as the Sempronian laws, 
that were intended to destroy the power of the senate, to alle- 
viate the condition of the poor, to extend the colonial system, 
and to elevate the rich capitalists to a distinct order. 

1. The first law z directed that the tithes of grain which ac- 
crued to the state from the provinces should be distributed 
among the people at a low price. The object of this was to 
attract the proletarians to Borne, and render them independent 
of the aristocracy. 4 

2. The second law 5 was intended to procure the requisite 
means of carrying out the provisions of the first enactment. The 
law by which the province of Asia paid a fixed sum 6 into the 
Eoman treasury, and thus escaped the exactions of the tax-gath- 
erers, 7 was repealed. The province was burdened with a system 
of heavy taxation, 8 which was leased at Eome instead of in the 
province, as in Sicily and Sardinia, thus substantially excluding 
the provincials who often bid in and farmed the taxes them- 
selves, and thus kept away the Eoman tax-gatherers. 

passioned. The manner of Tiberius was more pleasing and calculated to move the sym- 
pathies. The language of Tiberius was pure and nicely chosen ; that of Gajus was per- 
suasive and of heart-stirring power. His powerful voice filled the whole forum, and he 
was obliged to have a flute player behind him, the sound of whose instrument brought 
his voice back to its tone and moderated its force. 

1 This he withdrew at the request of his mother. 2 See p. 182, n. 1. 

3 The lex frumentaria ; ut populus pro frumento, qvod sibi publice daretur, insinqulos 
modios senos ceris et trientes pretii nomine exsolveret. — Liv. ep. 60 : that five modii (1^ 
bushels) were distributed monthly at 6\ asses (about six cents) each, rests upon Momm- 
sen's conjectural emendation of Livy's text. Peter (Gesch. Boms. vol. ii., p. 32, note) 
shows that the price cannot be fixed with certainty. 

4 No attempt is made to distinguish between the laws carried this or the next year, 
as it is impossible to determine with any certainty the exact order in which the laws 
were enacted. 

5 Lex deprovincia Asia a censor ibus locanda. e Stipendium. 

7 Publicani. 8 Decumce, scriptura, and vectigalia. 



210 THE LAWS OF GAJTTS GRACCHUS. [B.C. 1^3. 

3. The third laiv 1 extended the agrarian law of his brother by 
planting colonies not only in Italy but in the provinces, restored 
the judicial power of the commissioners, 2 and authorized them 
to lay out streets along the new allotments. 3 

4. The fourth law 4 renewed the old rule that a soldier should 
not be enlisted before his seventeenth year, 5 and enacted that 
his outfit should be furnished by the state, without deducting 
the cost as hitherto from his pay. 

5. The fifth laiv 6 enacted that the judices should be taken from 
the equites instead of as heretofore from the senators. This at- 
tacked directly the prerogatives of the senate, and brought the 
equestrian order in sharp collision with the senate, to serve as a 
check on its power. 7 

6. The sixth laiv 8 touched the power of the senate still 
more vitally. Hitherto the custom had been for the senate 



1 Lex agraria. 2 G. Gracchus, Fulvius Flaccus, and Papurius Cabo. 

3 The lex viaria ; he first had bridges constructed over marshes, erected milestones 
in regular order from the miliarium in the forum ; at regular intervals square stones 
were erected on the side of the road for mounting and dismounting. 

4 Lex mUitaria. 

5 This prevented the young nobles from serving in the camp {contubernio) of the gen- 
eral as a kind of body-guard before the seventeenth year, and thus entitling them to ap- 
ply earlier for the quaestorship. 

6 Lexjudiciaria. In the year b. c. 149, offences against the state which had originally 
been tried by the whole people were transferred to special courts, the jurors {judices) 
of which were selected from the senate. The first of these laws was the lex Calpurnia 
de repetundis, which punished magistrates for extortion in the provinces. The name 
of equites applied originally only to the members of the eighteen centuries ; these 
were called equites equo publico because their horses were assigned them by the state 
and they had the census of the first class (400,000 sesterces, about $16,000). Since then 
the equites had ceased to serve in the field, and the cavalry was supplied by the allies. 
In the meantime another class {equites equo privato) had arisen, consisting of men of 
wealth who did not belong to the governing senatorial families. Before the time of Gajus 
Gracchus, a law had been carriedrcompellmg the equites, when they entered the senate, 
to give up their horse. This drew a line between the senators and equites. The law 
of Gracchus prescribed that the judices should be taken from the second class, i. e., from 
those who possessed the equestrian census (400,000 sesterces\ but were not members of 
the senate. Since the Claudian law had excluded the senatorial families from a business 
life, and the nobles excluded the rich men who did not belong to the governing senato- 
rial families, from a political career, there were two powerful aristocracies in the state 
—the senatorial governing order, composed of a few aristocratic families, and the eques- 
trian order (ordo equestris), the men of wealth. The aim of Gracchus was to create an 
antagonism between these two orders. They had often come in collision in the prov- 
inces, for the provincial magistrates came from the senatorial order, and the publicani 
from the equestrian order. 

7 His colleague Acilius Glabrio carried a law {lex repetun darum) by which the jurymen 
in civil cases must be taken from the equestrian order. The lex Acilia repealed the lex 
Junta repetundarum, by which all aliens were banished from Rome, and directed that 
these civil processes of repetundarum should come before the prcetor perigrinus, and a 
jury of 450 judices, from which senators and senators' sons were excluded. The com- 
plainant in such a case, if he was an alien, was to be rewarded with citizenship, or in 
case that was not desired, with the right of appeal. 

8 Lex de provinciis consularibus. 



B. 0. 122.J KEACTIOST AGAIKST GAJUS GRACCHUS. 211 

to assign the consuls and praetors their provinces after 
the election. The result was that a lucrative government 
or the conduct of an important war was bestowed upon a 
favorite, while to the " new man " a disagreeable or unimpor- 
tant field of action was assigned. Gajus wished to make the 
magistrate independent of the senate, and therefore proposed 
that the provinces should be determined before the election. 1 
Gajus was now substantially the ruler of Eome. He carried 
his measures in the popular assembly without troubling himself 
about the prerogatives of the senate. He saw to it himself that 
colonies 2 were founded, roads constructed, jurymen selected, 
and really exercised absolute authority in Kome. 

6. Reaction against Gajus. — He was now at the height 
of his prosperity, and seemed to have succeeded in his object 
— the breaking down of the jurisdiction and administrative 
powers of the senate. He was re-elected for the next year, 3 
and came before the people with still more radical measures of 
reform. He made a proposal to grant to the Latins full citi- 
zenship and to the Italian allies the rights which the Latins 
had hitherto enjoyed. 4 This proposal met with intense oppo- 
sition, not only from the senate, but from the people, who 
could not endure the idea that the Latins should be admitted 
to full citizenship. The senate now saw that the means was 
given it of depriving the tribune of his popularity. A law was 
carried ejecting all Latins from the city, and the tribune 
M. Livius Drusus was won over to outbid Gajus himself for 
popular favor. Drusus proposed that the Latins should be 
exempt from capital and corporal punishment in the camp, 
that instead of the three or four colonies which Gajus 
had promised, twelve Italian colonies should be founded, 
and that the rent which Gajus had imposed upon the land 

1 This measure was exempt from the veto of a tribune. 

2 One was founded on the site of Carthage in b. c. 122 ; one at Aquce Sextice (Aix in 
Provence) in b. c. 122. 

3 For b. c. 122 ; the law had probably been repealed prohibiting the re-election of a 
tribune. 

* Lex de sociis ; at the same time the lex Atilia Rubria propose to confer upon the 
Latins a share in the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus. A law was also carried abrogating 
the old arrangement in the order of voting in the comitia centuriata, and it was settled 
that the order in which the five classes were to vote should be determined by lot, 



212 THE DEATH OF GAJUS GKACCHUS. [B.C. 121. 

should be remitted. The people were willing to ratify the 
Livian laws with the same alacrity that they had the Sempro- 
nian. From this time it was evident that Gajus was a doomed 
man. He failed to be elected to the tribunate for the third 
time, and saw his most bitter opponent Lucius Opimius raised 
to the consulship. Gajus courted the favor of the people, left 
his house on the Palatine and lived with the poor citizens near 
the forum. As soon as Opimius entered on his office he had a 
proposal 1 brought before the people to repeal the Sempronian 
law for the colonizing of Carthage because the site had been 
accursed by Scipio. 

7. Efforts for Peace. — Gajus sought in every way to 
avoid a conflict, and was not present when the tribes met. He 
could not, however, prevent his adherents from remembering 
the fate of Tiberius, and they appeared armed. When the 
tribes had assembled at the capitol to vote on the proposal of 
Opimius, it happened as the consul was offering sacrifices 
in the porch of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, that his 
herald, a certain Antyllus, a partisan of Gajus, was struck 
down by mistake. 2 In the midst of the confusion that followed, 
the assembly dissolved, and Gajus went to the forum to address 
the people. The nobility declared that he was calling the peo- 
ple from the popular assembly, and interrupting the tribune 
while addressing the people. 3 Gajus and Fulvius Flaccus the 
consul of b. c. 125 returned home accompanied by an armed 
retinue. The consul occupied the capitol with armed soldiers 
and assembled the senate the next morning, in the temple 
of Castor and Pollux. Martial law was declared by empowering 
the consul to see that the republic suffered no harm. 4 

8. Death of Gracchus. — Gajus and his adherents occu- 
pied the Aventine, the ancient Vesta of the plebeians, and their 
stronghold during the struggles between the orders. Civil war 



1 By the tribune Minucius Rufus. 

2 Lange, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 47. For a different account of the cause of the collision, see 
Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 134. ' 

3 See p. 59. 

* The dictatorship had fallen into disuse after b. c. 216. The formula investing the 
consul with full power was : videret ne quid repuUica detrimenti caperet 



B.C. 121.] THE DEATH OE GAJUS GRACCHUS. 



213 



was declared. After some fruitless attempts at negotiation, 
the consul stormed the Ayentine. He met with little resist- 
ance. Gajus escaped across the Sublician Bridge, where two 
of his friends checked the pursuers at the cost of their lives. 
He continued his flight to the grove of the Furies, where his 




The Temple of Concord Restored. 



faithful slave first put him to death, and then slew himself on 
the corpse of his master. The head of Gajus was carried 
to the consul, who had promised for it its weight in gold. 
Flaccus was killed and three thousand of his adherents, their 
houses were demolished, their property confiscated, and their 
widows were forbidden to wear mourning. After this the city 
was purified by a lustration, and from the confiscated property 



214 THE KULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. [B. C. 121. 



a temple of Concord * was erected 2 in memory of the great vic- 
tory. 3 The nobles all tried to brand the Gracchi as seditious 
demagogues, but the people revered their memory, and at a 
later time their statues were erected in the public places, and 
the spots where they fell were called holy ground. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



The Kule of the Oligarchy. — The War with Jugurtha. 
— The Rise of Gajus Marius. 

1. The Rule of the Oligarchy. — The death of Gracchus 
left the popular party without a leader. The nobility proceeded 
with caution. First the proviso that the allotments of land 
should be inalienable was abrogated. Then a law 4 was passed 
declaring that the assignments should cease, and that the 
public land should remain in the hands of the "possessors," 

1 The remains of this temple (rebuilt by Tiberius) are directly behind the arch of 
S. Severas. Behind the raised superstructure was the senate house in which the senate 
met in the time of Cicero. There were four temples of Concord : the first was dedicated 
by Camillus b. c. 368 (see p. 81), near Juno Moneta's temple ; the second by Flavius 
b. c. 305 (see Livy ix. 46), in the area of Vulcan near the Graecostasis (see p. 386) ; the 
third was erected by Manlius b. c. 216 in the citadel (Livy xxii. 23) ; the fourth by 
Opimius. Nothing remains of the first three ; of the fourth, the foundation and the 
inscription have been preserved. 

2 The Basilica Opimia was built at the same time, but its location is not known with 
certainty. Appian and Festus describe it as in the forum and near the temple of Saturn. 
As the temples of Concord and the Basilica were both built by Opimius, he probably 
placed them near together. (See map, p. 416.) 

3 Plutarch (Life of G. Gracchus, 13^ describes the manner in which Cornelia passed her 
life in cherishing the honor of her sons. Cornelia is said to have borne her misfortunes 
with a noble magnanimity, and to have said of the consecrated places where her sons lost 
their lives, " that they had tombs worthy of them.'" She took up her residence at Mise- 
num, and made no alteration in her manner of life. She had many friends, and her hos- 
pitable table was always crowded with guests. Learned Greeks and the most noble men at 
Rome visited her, and all the kings in alliance with Rome sent and received presents from 
her. She made herself very agreeable to her guests by talking to them of the life and 
habits of her father Africanus, and what was most surprising, she spoke of her sons with- 
out a sigh or tear, relating their actions and sufferings as if she was speaking of heroes of 
the olden time. This made some think her understanding had been impaired by age and 
the greatness of her misfortunes, and that her sensibilities had grown dull and blunted 
by the terrible catastrophes that had swept away her children. But those who were of 
this opinion seemed rather themselves to be wanting in understanding, since they could 
not comprehend how a noble mind by liberal education could support itself against mis- 
fortune ; and that in the pursuit of rectitude fortune may often triumph over virtue, yet 
she can never take away from virtue the power of enduring evils with fortitude. 

* The lex Thoria in b. c. 118 ; at this time provisions were made for founding colo- 
nies in Spain at Aquae Sextise (Aix in Provence) ; a part of Gaul was organized as a 
province, and a colony in honor of the god Mars, called Narbo Martius (Narbonne) was 
founded. (The colony Junonia at Carthage was given up ; Neptunia at Tarentum was 
alone allowed to remain.) 



B.C. 118.] THE KULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. 215 

but that the rent 1 of it should be distributed among the poor 
people. The other laws remained in force and the corn laws 
became the basis for all subsequent legislation on this subject. 
How the oligarchy, after their restoration, governed at home 
was witnessed by the fact that there were not more than two 
thousand wealthy families among the citizens. Farms were 
again swallowed up in sheep-walks, and social ruin and decay 
spread over Italy. Servile insurrections broke out on every 
hand. The Mediterranean swarmed with pirates. The wealth 
wrung from the poor provincials was employed in bribery at 
home. The vices and corruptions of ail classes were hurrying 
the state on to ruin. Wherever the eye turned throughout 
the vast domain of the Eoman empire, corruption, mismanage- 
ment, and impotency were visible on every side. How the 
wretched oligarchy managed the foreign relations, the condition 
of the dependent states showed. Foreign princes bought their 
crowns of the Eoman nobles and judges and senators sold their 
decisions. Wealth flowed into Eome from the plunder of the 
provincials. The shameless and incompetent rule of the oli- 
garchy seemed likely to endure for many years, 2 had not the 
revolt of Jugurtha in Africa furnished the crowning proofs of 
their wretched and corrupt government, and brought into 
prominent notice the two men who were destined to usurp des- 
potic power ; Marius in the name of the people, and Sulla in 
that of the oligarchy. 

2. Numidia and Jugurtha. — It will be remembered that 
the resistance which the Carthaginians had made to the en- 
croachments of Massinissa on their territory gave the Eomans 
the pretext for war. 3 After the destruction of Carthage, 
much of the territory that had formerly belonged to the 
Carthaginians was bestowed upon Massinissa. 4 When Mas- 
sinissa died he left three sons, Micipsa, Gulussa, and Mas- 
tanabal, among whom Scipio divided the Numidian king- 

1 Vectigal. 

2 The only work of improvement at home worthy of notice at this time, was the com- 
pletion of the via JEmilia from Pisa and Luna to Sabata and Datona, and the pons Mul- 
vius during the censorship of JSmilius Scaurus (b. c. 109). The fornix - Fabianvs was 
erected at tlje entrance of the via Sacra into the forum by Q,. Fab his Maximus JEcobro- 
gicus, 3 See p. 168, * See p. 171, n, 3, 



216 WAR WITH JUGURTHA. [B.C. 118. 

dom according to the directions of the last king. The death 
of the two last left Micipsa 1 sole king. Jugurtha was the 
bastard son of Mastanabal ; Micipsa, however, brought him up 
with his own sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal. Jugurtha, when 
he grew up, displayed such remarkable qualities of mind and 
body, and his popularity among the people was so great, that 
the old king Micipsa, fearing that he would snatch the inherit- 
ance from his own sons, resolved to expose him to the risks of 
war. He placed him, therefore, in command of the Numidian 
contingent in the Numantine war. Here he met thfe young no- 
bles who were serving in the camp 2 of the general, and lived on 
intimate terms with them. They encouraged him to kill Micipsa 
and usurp the throne, assuring him that it would be easy to 
buy a pardon at Eome, where everything had its price. 3 After 
his return to Numidia, relying on the support of the powerful 
friends he had made at Numantia, he caused Hiempsal to be 
murdered, and procured by bribery a division of the kingdom 
between himself and Adherbal. Commissioners, at the head of 
whom was Opimius, the opponent of Gracchus, were sent to 
carry out the provisions of the senate, but they sold themselves 
to Jugurtha immediately on their arrival in Africa. The western 
and most fertile division was assigned to Jugurtha ; the eastern, 
which was arid, fell to Adherbal. This, however, did not satisfy 



GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

Massinissa (238-149). 



Micipsa, b. c. 118. Gulussa. Mastanabal. 



i j I Massiya, i | 

B.C. 111. 

Adherbal, Hiempsal I., Micipsa. Gaitda, Jugurtha, 
B.C. 112. B.C. 117. I b. c. 104. 



Hiempsal. 
Juba I. 



OXTNTAS. 



JUBA n. 

9 In contuoernio mperatorie, 3 Bmce omnia venalid *#&«-•&&• Jug., 9, 10. 



B.C. 111.] 



WAR WITH JUGURTHA. 



217 



Jugurtha. He made war upon Adherbal, defeated him in battle, 
and finally besieged him in Girta. When the town surrendered, 
Adherbal was put to death with tortures, and also all the men in 
the garrison, not excepting even the Italians. 1 This roused the 
indignation of the mercantile class at Kome, and the tribune G. 
Memmius compelled the senate to declare war against Jugurtha. 




3. Jugurthine War (b. c. 111-104).— The consul, L. Cal- 
purnius Bestia, landed in Africa, ostensibly to carry on the war 
in Numidia, but really with the purpose of being bribed by Ju- 
gurtha. In order to protect himself he took with him as legates 
a number of influential nobles, among whom was M. iEmilius 
Scaurus, the president of the senate. 2 After Jugurtha had 
paid' enough to satisfy Bestia and Scaurus, a treaty was made 



* These were merchants doing business in Africa. 



' £*rinceps senatust 



218 WAR WITH JUGURTHA. [b. C. 110. 

without tlie interposition of the senate or the people, granting 
the kingdom of ISTumidia to Jugurtha. 

4. The Treaty with Numidia Cancelled. — When the 
news of this disgraceful treaty reached Rome, a storm of indig- 
nation burst forth. The tribune Memmius recounted 1 the 
offences of the oligarchy, and, in spite of the influence of 
Scaurus, carried a bill that Jugurtha, under a safe conduct, 
should be invited to come to Rome and give information in re- 
gard to the manner in which peace had been made. When Ju- 
gurtha appeared before the assembly of the people, and Mem- 
mius had stilled the murmurs of indignation from the multi- 
tude for him to declare who his accomplices were, the tribune, 
Gr. BsBbius, already bribed for this purpose, interposed his yeto 
on the king's speaking. Shortly after this, Jugurtha procured, 
under the very eyes of the senate and people, the assassination 
of Massiva, the son of Galussa, who was instigated by Albinus, 
the consul elect, to lay his claim before the senate for the 
throne. The murderer escaped, and since vengeance could not 
be taken on Jugurtha, he was ordered by the senate to leave 
Rome. When beyond the walls, he is said to have looked back 
in silence on the city, and at last to have exclaimed : " venal 
city, about to perish if it can but find a purchaser." 2 

5. The Renewal of the War (b. c. 110). — The war was 
renewed by Albinus, who, however, accomplished nothing. 
His brother Aulus succeeded him, and penetrated into the 
heart of Numidia, where he was surprised and defeated, and 



1 " It grieves me to relate how, during the last fifteen years, you have been the sport 
of the arrogance of the oligarchy, and how utterly unavenged your defenders have per- 
ished. After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring to kingly 
power, persecutions were instituted against the people. After the slaughter of Gajus 
Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, many of your order were put to death in prison. Let us 
pass over this ; let us admit that to restore the rights of the people was to aspire to royal 
power. You have seen how in past years the treasury has been pillaged ; you have seen 
kings and free people paying tribute to a small party of aristocrats, in whose hands are 
all the honors of the state and wealth of Italy. . . . This is not a case of peculation 
of the treasury, nor a forcible extortion of money from the allies. These indeed are 
grave offences, but we are so used to them that we consider them nothing. Now the au- 
thority of the senate and your own power have been surrendered to your greatest enemy. 
The public interest has been betrayed for money. If we do not investigate their mis- 
deeds, if we do not inflict punishment on the guilty, what will remain for us except to 
live and obey those who have committed these crimes ? For when men can do with im- 
punity what they like, that is really kingly power,'"— Sail. Jur. 31. 

'Jug., 3* 



B. C. 109.] THE RISE OF GAJUS MARIUS. 219 

his army sent under the yoke. This disgrace roused the 
people. The conduct of the war was committed to Q. Caecilius 
Metellus, 1 a capable and experienced officer. In b. c. 109 
he departed for Numidia with G. Marius and P. Eectilius 
Kufus as legates. The discipline of the army was restored, 
Cirta and other towns captured, and Jugurtha defeated near 
the river Muthul, and compelled to flee for protection to Boc- 
chus, king of Mauretania. 2 

5. Rise of Gajus Marius. — The glory of finishing the 
war was, however, not reserved for Metellus, but for his legate, 
Gajus Marius. Born (B.C. 157) in the environs 3 of Arpinum 
among the Latin hills, Marius was reared in the country, and 
his rustic manners and illiteracy clung to him through life. He 
had a taste for war, and his bravery at Numantia attracted the 
notice of Scipio iEmilianus, who, being asked one day where 
the Romans should find such another general when he was 
gone, touched Marius on the shoulder and said, "Perhaps 
here." 4 This raised the hopes of Marius. On his return 
to Rome he was elevated to the tribunate 5 (b. c. 119) and four 
years after to the praetorship. He was a man of iron nerve and 
inflexible resolution. When he accompanied Metellus to Africa 

1 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

L. Metellus Calvus, 

cos. b. c. 142. 



L. Metellus Dalmaticus, Q. (Lectlius Metellus Numidicus, Cecilia, m. 
cos. b. c. 119. cos. b. c. 109. L. LucullusI 

Cjecilia, m. Q. Metellus Pius, 

1. Scaurus. 2. Sulla. cos. b. c. 80. 

Q. Metellus Pius Scipio, 
cos. b.c. 52. m. Lepida. 

Cornelia, m. 
1. P. Crassus. 2. Pompejus, triumvir. 

3 See map, p. 217. 3 At Cercatae. 4 Plut. Mar. 3. 

5 He carried a law (lex Maria de suffragiis ferundis) to restrain the influence of the 
aristocracy at elections. The law enacted that 'the voting-bridges (ponies ; these were the 
narrow passages that led to the different compartments into which the enclosed space 
{septal where the assembly met was divided) should be made narrower, so that the nobles, 
could not so easily stand by and influence their clients. 



220 THE RISE OF GAJUS MARIUS. [b. C. 108. 

a new field was open to his ambition. He neither declined the 
most difficult tasks, nor thought the most servile labor beneath 
him. He shared the hardships of the common soldier, ate of 
the same dry bread, and slept on the same hard couch. He so 
endeared himself to all, that his name was in every one's 
mouth, and the letters of the soldiers carried his fame to Kome. 
This encouraged him to hope for the consulship. 

6. Marius Elected Consul. — One day while sacrificing 
in the camp before TTtica, the haruspex, on inspecting the 
victims, bade him trust in the gods, and execute whatever 
purpose he had in mind. He applied to Metellus for leave of 
absence to go to Kome and apply for the consulship. The con- 
sul tried to dissuade him from his purpose, but he repeated his 
request from time to time. Metellus gave vent to his scorn by 
saying, " You need not be in such a hurry ; it will be time 
enough for you to apply for the consulship with my son." The 
son of Metellus was then only twenty, and could not therefore 
become a candidate for the consulship for twenty years. Marius 
never forgot the insult. From this time he courted the favor 
of the common soldiers more assiduously than ever, intrigued 
against the general, and boasted that if he had but one-half the 
army, he would soon end the war. The letters of the soldiers 
and of the merchants carried these sayings to Eome, and the 
people began to think that the only way of ending the war was 
to elect Marius consul. Only twelve days before the election, 
he obtained leave of absence and sailed to Eome. He was 
elected not only consul, 1 but general for the war against Jugur- 
tha, notwithstanding the senate had designed to prorogue 
the command of Metellus. This was a great victory for the 
popular party ; for it had for a long time been an unheard of 
thing for a " new man " to be raised to the consulship. Fur- 
ther, he was designated to the command, 2 not by the senate, 
but by the people. 



1 For the year b. c. 107. 

2 The senate had already assigned the provinces, but Manlius Mancinus laid it before 
the people, who should conduct the war against Jugurtha ; they decided in favor of 
Marius. For the changes in the military organization introduced by Marius, see p. 371. 



B. C. 113.] THE CIMBKI AND TEUTOKES. 221 

7. The War Renewed by Marius. — After Marius had 
completed his preparations in Kome, he departed for Africa. 1 
Here he fulfilled the popular expectation. Advancing into 
Numidia ravaging and plundering, he defeated Jugurtha, 
and Bocchus, king of Mauretania, in two bloody battles. This 
defeat discouraged Bocchus, and Sulla, Marius's quaestor, entered 
into negotiations with him, which resulted in the surrender of 
Jugurtha (b. c. 106). This ended the war. After remaining two 
years in the country, Marius returned to Eome to celebrate his 
triumph (b. c. 104), in which Jugurtha walked in chains. 
While the procession was winding up the clivus Capitolinus, 
the king turned to the right to be cast into the Mamertine 
prison. As he touched the cold, damp dungeon, 2 he exclaimed : 
" By Hercules ! what a cold bath is this," and after six days 
died of hunger. 3 Numidia was not immediately made a Eoman 
province, but the western part, Mauretania Caesariensis, 4 was 
annexed to the kingdom of Bocchus, and the rest was bestowed 
upon Gauda, a descendant of Massinissa. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The War with the Cimbei and Teutones (B. C. 113-101). 

1. The Relations of Rome to the North. — Before 
the war with Jugurtha was ended> a new danger threatened 
the empire from the north. It will be remembered that 
Eome had subdued the Gauls in the north of Italy and 
had founded Eporedia 5 (Ivrea) to command the passes of the 
western Alps, as Aquileja did of the eastern. The province of 
Narbo had been organized and communication was opened 
with Spain by means of the Domitian way, which extended 

1 According to Sallust (c. 73\ in the summer of b. c. 107 ; Mommsen (1. c. vol. in., p. 170) 
thinks in b. c. 106 or late in the season of b. c. 107. See Peter (Studien zur Rom. Gesch., 
p. 96, note) for a thorough discussion of the subject, 

2 The Tulliawm, 3 Plut. Q, Mar, * Algiers. s B. C. 190, 



222 THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. [B. C. 105. 

from the Rhone to the Pyrenees. The colonies which the 
Gracchan party founded to alleviate the condition of the pro- 
letarians in the capital, and which soon became centres for 
Roman traders and settlers, have already been mentioned. 1 In 
most of the country beyond the Alps, however — in Spain and 
in Gaul, except the small tract along the coast — the native 
tribes still roamed in freedom and defied the incompetent gov- 
ernment at Rome. 

2. The Battle of Arausio (b. c. 105). — About this time 
it happened that a Germanic tribe, the Cimbri, in its wander- 
ings from home, 2 reached Noricum, and approached the passes 
of the Alps near Aquileja. The consul Paperius Carbo was de- 
feated, 3 but instead of directing their march to Italy, the Cim- 
bri turned to the west, crossed the Jura, and threatened the 
Roman territory in that quarter. Here they stimulated other 
tribes 4 to attack the Romans, and the consul Junius Silanus 
was defeated in b. c. 109, and two years after, L. Cassius Lon- 
ginus suffered a terrible defeat, and his army only escaped by 
giving up its baggage and passing under the yoke. This en- 
couraged Tolosa {Toulouse) to revolt, but the consul the next 
year retook the city, and plundered the rich temple there of its 

. vast amount of treasures. The next year the Cimbri returned 
with the intention of invading Italy. Three powerful armies 
opposed their passage of the Rhone. The battle of Arausio 
{Orange) followed, and the three armies were cut to pieces in 
detail. The loss was tremendous. 5 The terror of another inva- 
sion from the north spread throughout Italy, and the storm of 
popular indignation burst forth with terrible fury against the 
oligarchy. 6 The Cimbri fortunately turned towards Spain and 
gave the Romans a two years respite. 

3. Marius Re-elected Consul (b. c. 104). — All eyes were 
now turned towards Marius, as the only man who could save Italy. 
During his absence he had been elected to the consulship, 



1 See p. 214, n. 4 ; also p. 210. a Chirsonesus Cimbrica. 3 Near Noreja, in b. c. 113. 
* Tigurini, Tougeni, &c. s 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 camp followers. 

8 Caepio, one of the commanders, was deposed from office, his property confiscated, 
and, in (Jirect violation of law, condemned to death, 



B. C. 102.] THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. 223 

although the law prescribed that the candidate should apply in 
person, and prohibited re-election until after the elapse of ten 
years. On the same day that he celebrated his triumph, he 
entered his second consulship. 1 He set out immediately for 
Gaul at the head of an army ardently attached to him, and com- 
manded by the best officers, among whom was his old quaestor 
Sulla. The departure of the Cimbri gave him time to harden his 
soldiers by toil, and to complete the important canal 2 from the 
left bank of the Ehone to the coast, which opened communica- 
tion between the sea and his camp, thus avoiding the difficult 
navigation of the delta of the Rhone. 

4. The Battle of Aquae Sextiae (b.c. 102). — In the 
meantime the Cimbri had returned from Spain, re-united 
with the Teutones, 3 and, reinforced by other tribes, prepared 
for the invasion of Italy. The immense host, however, divided 
again ; the Cimbri and the Tigurini crossed the Rhone, in 
order to enter Italy by their old route, the eastern Alps, while 
the Teutones and Ambrones marched toward the Rhone, where 
Marius was encamped, to enter Italy by the Maritime Alps, and 
join the Cimbri on the Po. The camp of Marius at the junction 
of the Rhone and Isara (here) commanded both of the western 
routes to Italy, the one along the coast, and the other over the 
Little St. Bernard. The barbarians stormed the camp, but 
when they found the intrenchments too strong for them, they 
pursued their way to Italy. For six days the vast host filed 
past the camp, and defied the Romans by asking if they had 
anything to send to their wives at home, for they should soon 
be in Italy. When they had advanced a short distance, Marius 
broke up and followed until they reached Aquae Sextiae 4 (Aix). 
Here Marius offered battle, and the enemy were eager for 
the encounter. The Teutones fought with all the energy and 
courage of their race, but the Roman legions stood like a wall. 
At length, attacked in the front and rear, for Marius had placed 

1 Jan. 1, b. c. 104. 2 Fossce Mariana. 

3 Mommsen, following Livy, thinks that the Cimbri first united with the Teutones 
after their return from Spain. Vellejus Peterculus (ii., 8), Appian {Celt. 13), and many 
others make the Teutones appear with the Cimbri much earlier, 

* That is, Baths of Sextius j see map, p. 314, 



224 THE CIMBKI AND TEUTONES. [B. C. 101. 

a band of Eoman soldiers there in ambuscade, the mighty host 
of the barbarians was annihilated. 1 Just as Marius was in the 
act of setting fire to the vast pile of arms collected from the 
field of battle, it was announced to him that he had been elect- 
ed to the consulship for the fifth time (b. c. 101). 

5. Battle of Vercellae (b. c. 101). — Meanwhile Q. Lu- 
tatius Catulus had engaged 2 the Cimbri as they attempted 
to enter Italy by the Brenner pass, 3 but being unable to hold his i 
position, had retreated oyer the Adige, thus leaving the whole 
yalley of the Po exposed to the ravages of the barbarians. Ma- 
rius, on his return to Eome, refused the triumph offered him 
by the senate, until the Cimbri were subdued. 4 After a brief 
stay in the capital, he joined Catulus. Their united armies 
crossed the Po and offered battle, but the barbarians declined 
it and sent envoys to Marius to demand lands for themselves 
and the Teutones. " The Teutones/' replied Marius, " have got 
all the land they need on the other side of the Alps.' 5 The 
battle could no longer be delayed, and near Vercellae, just 
where Hannibal had fought his first battle in Italy, the hostile 
armies met. As at Aquae Sextiae, so here, the barbarians were 
annihilated. Those who survived the battle were either killed 
or sold in the slave market at Eome. 5 

1 200,000 were killed and 90,000 taken prisoners. 

2 According to Livy (Ep. lxviii.). PI lit. (Mar. 23) says that Catulus gave up the passes 
without a contest, and posted himself on the Adige. See Mommsen (1. c. vol. iii., p. 201). 

3 From Innsbruck to Trent. 

* He was consul for b. c. 102, and his imperium had been prolonged ; he was now act- 
ing as proconsul. 

5 The human avalanche which for thirteen years had alarmed the nations from the 
Danube to the Ebro, from the Seine to the Po, rested beneath the sod, or toiled under 
the yoke of slavery ; the forlorn hope of the German migration had performed its duty ; 
the homeless people of the Cimbri and their comrades were no more. — Mommsen, 1. c. 
vol. iii., p. 203. The hypothesis that the Cimbri, as well as the similar horde of the Teu- 
tones which afterwards joined them, belonged, in the main, not to the Celtic nation, to 
which the Romans at first assigned them, but to the Germanic, is supported by the most 
definite facts : viz., by the existence of two small tribes of the same name— remnants 
left behind to all appearances in their primitive seats— the Cimbri in modern Denmark, 
the Teutones in the northeast of Germany, in the neighborhood of the Baltic, where 
Pytheas, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, makes mention of them thus early in 
connection with the amber trade ; by the insertion of the Cimbri and Teutones in the 
list of the Germanic peoples among the Ingaevones, alongside of the Chauci ; by the 
judgment of Caesar, who first made the Romans acquainted with the distinction between 
the Germans and the Celts, and who includes the Cimbri, many of whom he must him- 
self have seen, among the Germans ; and lastly, by the names of the peoples and the 
statements as to their physical appearance and habits in other respects, which, while ap- 
plying to the men of the north generally, are especially applicable to the Germans.— 
Mommsen, 1. c. p. 187, 



B. C. 101.] SOCIAL DISTRESS. 225 



chapter xxxiv. 

Social Distress — Keforms of Marius — The Appuleian 
Laws — The Rule of the Senate Restored. 

1. Necessity for Reform. — The triumph which Marius 
had refused was now celebrated with double splendor. The 
people called him the third founder of Kome, 1 and rewarded 
him with the sixth consulship. Marius was now the first man 
in the state. His services had placed him far above Metellus 
or Oatulus or any member of the aristocracy. He had delivered 
the state from her foreign foes, but a severer task was before 
him: to cure the social and agrarian evils, to arrest the pre- 
vailing decay, and to infuse a new spirit into civil and political 
life. At home the allotments of land had ceased, and poverty 
and decay were spreading again over Italy. While the labor 
on the great estates was performed by vast gangs of slaves, 
Eoman citizens wandered houseless and homeless. Eepeated 
insurrections broke out in Italy and in Sicily. In the provinces 
the capitalists and the magistrates made common cause in plun- 
dering the provincials. 

3. The Slave Population. — The farmers of the- revenue in 
collecting the custom-dues and the tenths, had also prosecuted a 
profitable business in the provinces in kidnapping the free 
population and selling them to the slave dealers. This practice 
had been carried on to such an extent, that when Marius 
asked Mcomedes, king of Bithynia, for auxiliaries in the 
war against the Teutones, this prince replied that owing 
to the farmers of the revenue and slave merchants, he no 
longer had any subjects left in his kingdom except women, 
children, and old men. 2 The senate issued a decree that no 

1 The two first were Romulus and Camillus. 

2 The Roman rule had undergone everywhere a material alteration. Partly through 
the constant growth of oppression naturally incident to every tyrannic government, 
partly through the indirect operation of the Roman revolution — in the seizure, for 
instance, of the property of the soil in the provinces of Asia by Gajus Gracchus, in the 
Roman tenths and customs, and in the human hunts which the collectors of the revenue 



226 SLAVE POPULATION. [B. C. 101. 

freeman, a native of an allied country, should be detained in 
slavery, and directed the praetor in Sicily to announce to those 
who believed that they were unjustly held in captivity to ap- 
pear before him. Immediately innumerable multitudes came 
to claim their freedom ; but as most of them belonged to 
influential capitalists 1 who openly expressed their dissatis- 
faction, the magistrate was obliged to let the measure drqp. 
The slaves deceived in their hopes for freedom and rendered 
furious, flew to arms in all directions. They found two able 
leaders, Salvius and Athenion, one of whom conducted the 
war in the eastern part of the island, and the other, in the 
western part. The insurrection soon assumed such a formid- 
able aspect that, when the war with the Cimbri was ended, 
Manius Aquillius (b. c. 101), the colleague of Marius in his fifth 
consulship, was sent to Sicily. After two years he succeeded 
in subduing the insurrection (b. c. 99) ; the prisoners were sent 
to Kome to fight with wild beasts for the amusement of the 
people, but they disappointed the spectators by slaying each 
other with their own hands in the amphitheatre. 

4. Marius as a Politician. — Under such circumstances, 
the people looked to Marius as the only man who could save 
the state and overthrow the rule of the oligarchy. The army 
which he had formed and led to victory was ardently devoted 
to him, and furnished the means of striking the blow against 
the government. The times, however, were not ripe for a 
military despotism, and Marius sought to accomplish bis reforms 
in a constitutional manner. He disbanded his army after the 
triumph, and relying on the support of the popular party, came 
forward in the regular way as a candidate for the consulship. 
Marius, although a great warrior, was no politician. As he 
had no clear and definite views of his own position nor of the 
manner in which reform was to be accomplished, he became a 

added to their other avocation there — the Roman rule, barely tolerable even from the 
first, pressed so heavily on Asia, that neither the crown of the king nor the hut of the 
peasant there was any longer safe from confiscation, that every stalk of corn seemed to 
grow for the Roman decumanus (i. e., the tithe-gatherer), and every child of free parents 
seemed to be born for the Roman slave-driver. — Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 288. 

1 The capitalist belonged to the equestrian order who, as judges, could punish the 
magistrates on their return to Rome. 



B. C. 100.] MAftltTS AND Till] DEMAGOGUES. 227 

mere novice in the hands of the political intriguers of the 
capital. 

5. Marius and the Demagogues. — The leaders of the 
popular party were no longer what they had been in the days of 
the Gracchi. They were now mere adventurers animated with 
intense hatred and contempt for the nobility. Marius allied 
himself with two of the worst of these demagogues, L. Appu- 
lejus Saturninus and G. Servilius Glaucia. The former was a 
candidate for the tribunate and the latter for the praetorship ; 
by their eiforts and by open violence and bribery, Marius was 
elected consul for the sixth time. Glaucia obtained the praetor- 
ship, but when A. Nonius was declared elected tribune in the 
place of Saturninus, he was set upon by a band of Marius's vet- 
erans who, for such purposes, had come to Eome in great num- 
bers, driven from the forum, and finally killed. These were the 
men to whom was entrusted the task of carrying out the reforms 
of the Gracchi. 

6. The Appuleian Laws (b. c. 100).— Saturnius, in order 
to conciliate the favor of the people, proposed two rogations : 

1. The first 1 prescribed that the state should sell corn at a 
nominal price 2 to Roman citizens. 

2. The second* ejected that the land in Cisalpine Gaul 4 
which the Cimbri had obtained possession of, should be 
divided among the Italians and Roman citizens, thus pro- 
viding relief not only for Rome but for all Italy. 5 

A provision was also made for founding in Sicily, Achaja 
and Macedonia colonies of veterans who had served in the army 
of Marius. In order to prevent amendments and delay on the 
part of the senate, a clause was added threatening a heavy 
punishment against those senators who refused to swear obedi- 
ence to the laws within five days after they were enacted by the 
people. The laws, however, were carried only after the most 

1 Lexfrumentaria. 

2 Instead of 6| asses (2\ asses = 5 cents) as formerly, the price was reduced to 
| of an as (semisses et trientes) per modius (peck). 

3 Lex agraria. 4 Gallia transpadana. 

5 The aurum Tolosanum, " the gold of Tolosa' 1 (see p. 222), which Caepio had stolen 
from the temple in Tolosa, and which fell to the state treasury after his condemnation, 
was to be distributed among the settlers to enable them to stock their farms. 



228 MARIUS AKD THE DEMAGOGUES. [b. C. 100. 

disgraceful riots and intense opposition. The partisans of the 
nobility dispersed the comitia by violence ; x but the old soldiers 
of Marius, who had flocked to the city in great crowds to 
yote, retaliated, and the voting was finally completed and the 
measures were adopted. 

7. Re-election of the Demagogues. — Saturninus now 
called up the senators to take the oath to observe the laws faith- 
fully. The course of Marius was marked by indecision and 
deceit. After declaring in the senate that he would never com- 
ply with the clause, he immediately took the oath to obey 
the laws so far as they were valid. The other senators followed 
his example. Metellus alone refused, and when his friends 
promised to take up arms in his defence, he declined their 
assistance and went into exile. Thus far Marius had encour- 
aged Appulejus and G-laucia. For some unaccountable reason, 
he kept aloof from the scenes of violence attendant on the next 
election and let matters take their own course. Saturninus was 
again elected tribune, and Glaucia was a candidate for the con- 
sulship, although, according to the leges annales, 2 not legally 
eligible to this office until after the elapse of two years ; the 
other two candidates were M. Antonius 3 and G. Memmius. As 

1 At first the nobility brought the veto of the tribune to bear, but Saturninus took no 
notice of that ; next the magistrate who presided at the election was informed that a 
peal of thunder had been beard, a portent by which, according to ancient belief, the 
gods commanded the public assembly to break up (see p. 40); Saturninus remarked to 
the messengers that the senate would do well to keep quiet, otherwise the thunder might 
be followed by hail. 

2 See p. 185, n. 4. 3 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

M. Antonius, Orator, cos. b. c. 99. 



M. Antonius Ceeticus, G. Antonius, cos. 63. Antonia. 

pr. b. c. 75 ; m. 1. Numitoria ; 



2. Julia. 



M. Antonius, triumvir. G. Antonius. L. Antonius. 

m. 1. Fania. 4. Octavia. pr. b. c. 44. cos. b. c. 41. 



2. Antonia. 5. Cleopatra. 

3. Fulvia. 



Antonia. M. Anto- J. Anto- Antonia Antonia Alex- Cleo- Ptolem^eus 
nius. nius. major minor. ander. patra. Philadelphus. 



B.C. 99.] KEACTIOX AGAINST MARITJS. 229 

the election of Antonius, the celebrated orator, was certain, 
the struggle lay between Memmius and Glaucia. As Memmius 
seemed likely to be elected, Saturninus hired bands of ruffians 
to assail and kill him on the public street. This outrage 
alarmed all who cared for the safety of the state. 

8. Reaction against Marius. — The senate saw that the 
time had come to act. The consul was invested with full 
powers, 1 the state was declared to be in danger, and Marius, as 
consul, was charged with its defence. At the head of bands of 
armed men, Marius attacked Saturninus and his followers. 
Glaucia was killed in a private house, and the young nobles 
stripped the tiles from the senate house, where Marius had 
confined Saturninus and the other prisoners, and stoned them 
to death. The violent course of Saturninus had alarmed all 
who had anything to lose. His laws were repealed, and the 
equestrian party joined in unsparing persecutions against his 
followers. 2 From this time the popularity of Marius declined. 
Odious to the senate, and hated by the people because he had 
deserted Saturninus, despised by all for his duplicity and inde- 
cision, he had lost the confidence of all parties. Bather than 
witness the return of his hated rival Metellus, he left Eome 
under the pretext of performing vows in Asia Minor, but really 
to brood over his hopes of revenge and to recover his popularity 
by gaining fresh victories in the East, where the daily increasing 
complications threatened war with Mithridates. The predic- 
tion of the Utican seer had thus far been realized, but the 
promise of the seventh consulship still remained unfulfilled. 

9. The Increase of Superstition. — For the third time 
the power of the senate had been restored. Not only the char- 
acter of the internal government, but even religion began to 

1 See p. 212, n. 4. 

2 An important law was carried enforcing the observance of certain formalities at 
elections, viz., (1) The lex Ccecilia Didia, in reference to the trinundinum, i. e., that sub- 
jects to be brought before the concilium plebis must be announced three nundince, be- 
forehand (every eight days, reckoning from the first of January, was a nundince, ; the 
Romans counted both the day from which and to which they reckoned ; a novemdince 
therefore occurred every ninth day. A similar mode of reckoning is still customary in 
Germany, where eight days is used for a week). (2) A legal prohibition against lumping 
several laws containing distinct regulations together, and carrying all at one time (per 
saturamferre). This gave the nobility a better opportunity to discuss a law and to main- 
tain control over legislation (b. c. 98). 



230 INCREASE OF SUPERSTITION. [b. C. 99. 

feel the injurious effects of a revolutionary struggle that had 
now lasted for nearly fifty years. The social evils pressed 
heavier and heavier upon the people, while the luxury and wealth 
of the upper classes increased. What was still worse, the 
old forms of faith were dying out, and men turned from their 
ancestral gods and sank more and more into strange supersti- 
tions. The slaves from the east brought their forms of worship 
with them. During the war with the Teutones, the senate 
welcomed the Phrygian Battaces, the high priests of Pessimus, 
who promised victory, and a temple was erected to the Good 
Goddess. Marius took with him everywhere the Syrian pro- 
phetess Martha, consulting her before every battle. Sulla be- 
lieved in omens and miracles and obeyed the Chaldean pro- 
phets. The wild orgies of the Cappadocian Ma, to whom the 
priests shed their own blood in sacrifice, the glowing Egyptian 
mysticism, and various forms of unallowed and secret worship, 
crept into Italy and took possession of the minds and hearts of 
the people. 1 In b. c. 97, the senate was obliged to forbid human 
sacrifices. Strange priests, religious impostors, and crowds of 
soothsayers swarmed in the streets and preyed upon the igno- 
rance and fears of the superstitious mass that thronged the cap- 
ital from all parts of Italy. The native gods seemed to have 
forsaken the people, who in utter despair turned towards 
strange gods and sought with religious frenzy after strange 
worships. As every nation in antiquity had its own special 
gods, who, in consideration of constant worship, granted pro- 
tection to every citizen, it was therefore a sign of national 
decay that the people forsook their own gods and turned to 
foreign deities. 

1 Men had become perplexed, not merely as to their old faith, but as to their very 
selves ; the fearful crisis of a fifty years 1 revolution, the instinctive feeling that the civil 
war was still far from being at an end, increased the anxious suspense, the gloomy per- 
plexity of the multitude. Restlessness and wandering imagination climbed every height 
and fathomed every abyss, where it fancied that it might discover new prospects or new 
light amidst the fatalities impending, might gain fresh trophies in the desperate struggle 
against destiny, or perhaps might find merely fresh alarms. A portentous mysticism 
found in the general distraction — political, economic, moral, religious — the soil which was 
adapted for it, and grew with alarming rapidity ; it was as if gigantic trees had grown by 
night out of the earth, none knew whence or whither, and this very marvellous rapidity 
of growth worked new wonders and seized like an epidemic on all minds not thoroughly 
fortified.— Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 461. 






B. C. 99.] THE STEUGGLE FOE tHE FRANCHISE. 231 



chapter xxxv. 
The Stettggle of the Italians foe the Franchise. 

1. The Condition of the Subjects.— It will be recol- 
lected that Scipio was able to put an end to the execution of 
the agrarian law when the commissioners interfered with the 
land secured to the Latins and the Italian allies by treaties. 1 
The state had, no doubt, legally the right to resume possession 
of the public land; whether occupied by Roman- citizens, Latins, 
or allies ; but while the complaints of Roman citizens could be 
disregarded, it became a question whether it was politic to give 
fresh offence to the Latins and Italian allies, among whom 
already a profound dissatisfaction prevailed. 2 iThe leaders of 
the popular party proposed to reiflove the obstacle which the 
allies interposed by granting them the rights of citizenship ; 
and from this time the agitation for land and the Italian 
agitation for the franchise moved along side by side in close 
alliance. For nearly thirty years the hope had been held out 
to the Latins of obtaining full citizenship, but during all of 
that time no measure had been carried to better their condition. 
On the contrary, however, their condition had changed greatly 
to their disadvantage. The burdens imposed 3 upon them had 
been unjustly increased, and Rome managed the whole admin- 
istration of affairs in such a way as to make the allies feel that 
they were subjects without rights. The result was that the 
Italians, almost like the provincials, were handed over to the 
caprice of the Roman magistrates. 

2. The Wrongs of the Subjects. — It was no uncommon 
thing for a Roman consul to order the magistrate of an allied 
town to be flogged for some trifling offence. 4 A mere citizen 

1 See p. 207. 2 See p. 1S4. 3 See p. 184. 

4 The consul came to Teannm Sidicinum ; he said his wife wished to hathe in the 
men's bath. Marcus Marius confided it to the care of the quaestor of Sidicinum, that 
they who were bathing should be sent away. The wife tells her husband that the baths 
were not given up to her soon enough, nor were they sufficiently clean. Immediately a 



232 THE STRUGGLE FOE THE FRANCHISE. f B. C. 99. 

passing through Venusia ordered a free peasant to be seized 
and whipped to death on account of a jest which he made on 
the Roman's litter. 1 During the Jugurthine war Latin officers 2 
were scourged and beheaded, while the poorest Roman soldier 
had the right of appeal. All this produced profound discon- 
tent, and that discontent grew from year to year, as the bond- 
age became more oppressive and the prospect of obtaining full 
citizenship disappeared. 3 Formerly the Latins had looked to 
Rome as the centre, and the full liberty of settling there and 
acquiring partial citizenship 4 had been accorded to them. Now 
this right 5 was attacked, and in the few years of tranquillity 
that followed the departure of Marius to Asia 6 (in b. c. 99), 
the two consuls of B. c. 95, L. Licinius Crassus 7 and Q. Mucius 
Scseyola, hoping to put an end to the agitation of the allies, 
carried a law which forbade any who were not citizens from 
claiming the franchise under severe penalty. This law, framed 
no doubt with the best o£ intentions, by two of the most 

Eost was fixed down in the market-place, and the quaestor, the most illustrious man of 
is city, was led to it ; his garments were stripped off, and he was beaten with rods. — 
Aul. G-ell. Noct. Attic, x, 3. 

1 The peasant, when he saw the Roman carried in a litter on the shoulders of slaves, 
asked, " Are you carrying a dead body ? " The expression cost him his life. 
3 Sail. Jug. 69 ; the rogatio Livia (p. 211) had never become a law. 
8 There are no official figures that give the number of the Italian allies. Mommsen 

0, c. vol. iii., p. 241) estimates it at 500,000 or 600,000 ; the number of citizens was prob- 
ably about 400,000. 

* Civitas sine suffragio. 

8 To escape from the tyranny of the Roman magistrates, each man tried to approach 
Rome and to establish himself there if possible. Thus Rome exercised upon Italy a sort 
of absorption, tending in a short time to make a desert of the country and overburden che 
city with an enormous population. (The same tendency is observed in modern times ; the 
population flocks from the rural districts to the cities.) Such was the condition of Italy. 
The extremities of the body became cold and void ; all was carried to the heart, which 
became oppressed. The senators rejected from the senate and public offices the "new 
men," the knights, the rich men, and gave up to them in compensation the invasion of 
the land of the poor. The Romans repulsed the colonists from the suffrage, the Latins 
from the city ; the Latins in turn expelled the Italians from Latium and from the rights 
of the Latins. Rome had ruined independent Italy by her colonies, in which she crowded 
the poor; then she ruined colonized Italy by the invasion of the rich, who everywhere 
bought, claimed, and usurped the lands, and had them cultivated by slaves. — Michelet, 

1. c, pp. 254, 255. 

6 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

L. Licinius Crassus, Orator, 
cos. b. c. 95. m. Mucia. 



Licinia, m. Licinia, m. L. Licinius Crassus Scipio, 

Scipio Nasica. G. Marius. son of Licinia, adopted by 



r The lex Licinia Mucia de civibus redigundis. 



L. L. Crassus, Orator. 



B.C. 98.] THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. 233 

eminent statesmen of the times, so exasperated the Italians 1 
that it became the proximate cause of the Social war. 

3. The Equestrian Order. — During the prosecutions that 
followed under this law, events occurred that gave the senate 
new strength, and caused it to believe that the time had come 
to deprive the equestrian order of its judicial power. How 
unfit the knights were to exercise this right the unjust con- 
demnation of P. Rutilius Rufus, one of the most eminent 
jurists and historians of his day, showed. He had accompanied 
M. Scaevola as legate to Asia, and when Scaevola returned to 
Rome, he was entrusted with the management of the province. 
With great impartiality he granted the provincials protection 
against the extortions of the tax-gatherers, the merchants, and 
the contractors. This so enraged the equestrian order that, on 
his return to Rome, a charge was trumped up against him, and 
being convicted, he was sentenced to pay a tine. His property 
was confiscated, and Rufus withdrew from Rome, and retired 
to the province which it was alleged he had plundered. After 
this prosecutions fell thick upon the senators, while every capi- 
talist tried before members of his own order was sure to escape. 2 

4. The Laws of Drusus. — The senatorial party entrusted 
the tribune, M. Livius Drusus, the son of that Drusus who 
had rendered the oligarchy such assistance in the contest with 
G-. Gracchus, with the attack on the jury courts. He came for- 
ward with measures of reform which he believed would satisfy 
all parties. He proposed that colonies should be founded in 
Italy and Sicily, and that the senate should be increased by 
the addition of three hundred new senators chosen from the 

1 So long as the demands of the Italians were mixed up with those of the revolution- 
ary party at Rome, and had, in the hands of the latter, been rejected by the folly of the 
masses, they might still resign themselves to the belief that the oligarchy had been hos- 
tile merely to the proposers, not to the proposal itself, and that there was still a possi- 
bility that the more intelligent senate would accept a measure which was compatible 
with the nature of the oligarchy and salutary to the state. But the recent years, in 
which the senate once more ruled almost absolutely, had shed only too disagreeable a 
light on the designs of the Roman oligarchy also. — Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 242. 

a Every one in the government party who was still alive to the fact that governing 
implied not merely rights but duties, every one in fact who still felt any nobler or prouder 
ambition within him, could not but rise in revolt against this oppressive and disgraceful 

Solitical control, which precluded any possibility of upright administration. The scan- 
alous condemnation of Rutilius Rufus seemed a summons to begin the attack at once, 
and Marcus Livius Drusus, who was tribune of the people b. c. 91, regarded the summons 
as specially addressed to himself.— Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 281. 



234 THE STKUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. [b. C. 91. 

equestrian order, and that the jurymen 1 should be taken from 
the senate, 2 thus increased in numbers. There was neither 
in Italy nor in Sicily sufficient public land for this purpose, 
and the senators were indignant that the equites were to 
be admitted to the senate, while the equites had no desire 
to transfer to a few of their own order the share in the 
administration of justice which they all enjoyed. Still the 
most eminent men in the state favored the proposals, many of 
those whom Cicero in his history of Koman eloquence men- 
tioned as the most renowned orators of their times. 3 The agi- 
tation began anew, and party spirit ran high. It soon became 
evident to Livius that the people did not favor his proposals. 
He sought to conciliate them by another agrarian law, by fresh 
distributions of corn, and in order to defray the expense, to issue 
copper denarii, plated to resemble those of silver. 4 He even held 
out to the Italian allies the promise of the Soman franchise. 

5. The Proposals Carried.— When Livius found that 
these new measures were far from being welcome to the aris- 
tocracy, and were violently opposed by the capitalists, he em- 
braced all his proposals in one law ; and as those interested in 
the distribution of corn and land had at the same time to vote 
for the clause in regard to the jurymen, the proposals were 
carried, although amid scenes of violence. The consul Phi- 
lippus, a furious opponent of Drusus, 5 summoned the senate to 



1 The punishment of corrupt jurymen was to be entrusted to a special commission, 
quazstio perpetua. 

a Lex judicaria '; Livius hoped that these proposals would be acceptable to both 
parties, but they really satisfied none. : ' 

3 L. Licinins Crassus, M. Antonius, Q. Mucins Scsevola, Q. Lutatius Catulus, G. Aure- 
lius Cotta, and P. Sulpicius Rufus. Cicero was in this year (B.C. 91) already fifteen 
years of age. He knew them personally, and had heard them with admiration. 

4 Lex nummaria. 

5 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

M. Livius Drusus, trib. pi., 
Killed b. c. 91. m. Servilia. 

; L. Drusus Claudianus. 

Adopted. 



M. Liv. Drusus Libo (adopted), Livia Drusilla, afterwards named Julia 

cos. b. c. 15. m. Pompeja. Augusta, m. .1. Tiberius. 2. Augustus. 



B.C. 91.] THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. 235 

declare the Livian laws null because they were carried in 
violation of a recent law. 1 After a stormy session, the senate 
decreed the abrogation of the laws. Drusus disdained to make 
use of his vote ; he contented himself with remarking that it 
was the senate that had riveted the equestrian yoke upon its 
own neck. 

6. The Death of Drusus. — Only about two months more 
remained for Drusus to perform his promise to the allies. 2 
The opposition was formidable. The allies looked to him as 
their leader, and were ready to take up arms for their rights. 
The ferment soon became so great that civil war was threatened. 
The opposite party looked upon Drusus as a conspirator, and 
the very day before the assembly was to meet to vote on his 
proposal to grant citizenship to allies, he was assassinated in 
his own house. Turning to those around him, well might he 
ask as he was dying, "Friends and neighbors, when will the 
republic have another citizen like me ?" 3 for he had lost his 
life in attempting to overthrow the power of the capitalists, to 
restore the state by a systematic colonization, and to avert the 
impending civil war. Suspicion fell upon the tribune elect, Q. 
Varius, and particularly upon the consul Philippus. 

7. Rupture with the Allies. — Notwithstanding the death 
of Drusus, his colleagues in the tribunate favorable to the 
measure, hoped still to succeed, and the allies were summoned 
to Kome to assist in carrying it. Q. Pompaedius Silo was 
already on the way with ten thousand Marsians, when one of 
the ambassadors who were sent to pacify the Italians, met him 
and induced him to return by saying that the senate had already 
decided to give the allies the franchise. 4 The Italians had long 
been making preparations for revolt, and had secretly collected 
arms and made treaties. The Roman praetor, Gajus Servilius, 
hearing that the town of Asculum in Picenum was preparing 

1 The lex Concilia Didia, p. 229, note 2. 

2 Lex de civitate sociis danda ; that the action of the senate had so embittered Drusus 
and caused him in the last two months of his tribunate to propose this law, is testified to 
in the most positive manner by Vellejus Paterculus (ii. 14). See Peter, 1, c. vol. ii., p. 89, 
note. 

3 Ecquandone similem met civem habebit rezpublica.— -Veil, ii, 14, 

4 See Diodorus 37, 19 f. ; also Lange, 1. c. iii., p. 106. 



236 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. [B. C. 90. 

for revolt, proceeded there and threatened the inhabitants in the 
most vehement language. The sight of the fasces and the threats 
of the praetor aroused the people ; Servilius was seized and put 
to death, together with his legate and all the .Romans in the 
place. This was the signal for a general insurrection. The 
Picentes, Vestinians, Marsians, Pelignians, Marrucinians, 3am- 
nites, and Lucanians, were soon in arms. The communities 
with Latin rights, that were scattered throughout Italy, the 
Etruscans and the Umbrians, as well as most of the Greek 
cities, adhered to the fortunes of Eome. 

8. The Government of the Allies. — In the meantime, 
the allies had prepared for war, and with bitter hatred against 
their former rulers, they determined to destroy Rome. They 
fixed upon Corfinium in the beautiful valley of the Aternus 
(Pescara) as the new capital of Italy. Its name was changed 
to Italica, 1 and citizenship was to be conferred upon all who 
joined the insurrection. The form of government was borrowed 
from that of Rome. It was to have a senate of five hundred 
members, which elected two consuls — the Marsian Q. Pompaedius 
Silo, the chief instigator of the war, and the Samnite GL Papius 
Mutilus — who were to conduct the war, and twelve praetors. 
The Latin and Samnite languages were equally recognized, 
though the Latin was used in official intercourse. The soul of 
the insurrection were the brave Marsians, and from the promi- 
nent part they took in the struggle, it has frequently been 
called the Marsic war. They had served in the Roman armies, 
and were armed and disciplined like the Romans. The Romans 
themselves said of them, "Who could triumph over the Mar- 
sians, or without them ? " 2 

9. Commencement of Hostilities.— The best officers of 
all parties, Gajus Marius, the democrat, a well-known sympa- 
thizer with the Italians ; Lucius Sulla, the hero of the war ; 
Publius Sulpicius Rufus, the friend of Drusus, and Pompejus 
Strabo, all offered their services to the consuls. 3 An army of 

1 In Oscan, Vitellia, a name found upon the coins that the confederacy issued. 

2 Appian, I.e. ii., 632. 

3 There were ten lieutenant-commanders ; the two consuls were Lucius Caesar and 
Publius Rutilias Lupus. 



B. C. 90.] THE STKUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. 237 

one hundred thousand men were placed in the field. The 
insurgents, however, had an army equally large, and were 
better prepared. Of the details of the war but little is known ; 
it is clear, however, that the military operations were mostly 
confined to two districts — the northern, extending from Pice- 
num to the borders of Campania, where the Latin language 
was spoken ; and the southern, embracing Campania, Sam- 
nium, and the states where the Sebellian language was spoken. 1 
These two districts formed throughout the war two distinct 
battle-fields. 

10. Concessions. — The Eomans fought with alternate 
victories and defeats until near the close of b. c. 90, when it 
became known that the Etruscans and the Umbrians were about 
to join the insurrection. The majority of the senate saw that 
the time had come for concessions, and the Eomans were com- 
pelled to concede the very privileges that they had so long 
withheld. 

1. The Julian Imv, 2 carried by the consul Julius Caesar, 
granted the franchise to all the Latins, and to the other Italians 
who had remained faithful to Eome or had laid down their 
arms. The new citizens were to be confined to eight tribes, 
as the freedmen were to four. 

2. The lex Plautia Papiria* prescribed that every citizen 
of an Italian 4 town should receive the franchise, provided that 
he was at that time a resident of Italy, and appeared before 
the Eoman praetor within sixty days to register his name.. The 
effect of these concessions was immediately apparent. The 
insurrection became disorganized. Many fell away from the 
confederacy and hastened to avail themselves of the pardon 



1 In the northern district, Silo commanded aarainst the consul Publius Lupus ; in the 
southern, Caesar commanded against the Samnite' Gajus Papius Mutilus. 

2 Lex Julia. Be civitate sociis danda ; carried near the close of b. c. 90. 

3 Proposed by the tribunes Plautius Silvanus and Papirius Carbo either in December, 
B. c. 90, or January, 89. 

* The Po was reckoned as the northern boundary of Italy. According to Mommsen 
(vol. iii., p. 260 f.), Latin rights were conferred upon the communities between the Po 
and the Alps, in consequence of a law carried by the consul Strabo. Zumpt {Be Gallia 
Rom. provincia), however, seems to have conclusively proved that the jus Latii was not 
bestowed upon the communities between the Po and Alps, but that citizenship was only 

t ranted to the Latin colonies, and the jus Latii to some communities which seemed to 
eserve it, See Lange, 1. c, vol, iii., p. 118, 



238 THE STKUGGLE FOR THE FRANCHISE. [b. C. 89, 

offered by the government. The second and third campaigns * 
were decidedly favorable to the Romans, and the war seemed 
near its close, although Nola was still in the possession of the 
Samnites, and the army of the Lucanians and Samnites in 
southern Italy, under Pontius Telesinus, was still in arms, 
when extraordinary events occurred at Rome, which caused 
Sulla to raise the siege of Nola, march to Rome, and com- 
mence the Civil war. In order to understand these events, it is 
necessary to revert to the internal history during the Social war. 
11. The Varian Prosecutions. — Even before hostilities 
had broken out, the most radical of the optimates and the 
capitalists mercilessly pursued the partisans of Drusus, whom 
they regarded as the cause of the war. At the instigation of 
Q. Varius, a low demagogue, an investigation was ordered 
against all who had directly or indirectly favored the demands 
of the Italians for citizenship. 2 The most eminent senators 
were dragged before the equestrian courts and compelled to go 
into exile. Even ^Emilius Scaurus, the president of the 
senate, was compelled to appear before this tribunal. He 
deigned only to reply: "Varius, the Iberian, accuses iEmilius 
Scaurus, the prince of the senate, of exciting the Italians to 
revolt. Scaurus denies it. Quirites ! 3 which of them do you 
believe ?" The people acquitted him with acclamation. As 
the war progressed, party spirit began to cool amid the disasters 
that befell the Romans on all sides. A reaction set in that 
was soon visible in Rome's policy at home and abroad. Besides 
measures of compromise, 4 the tribune Plautius Silvanus carried 
a law which deprived the knights of their control of the 
judicial power, and entrusted it to jurymen chosen by the 
tribes. 5 The convictions under the law of Varius had been the 
work of the knights encouraged by the extreme senatorial 

1 B. C. 89 and 88. 

2 This law, lex de majestate ; ut qimreretnr de Us quorum ope consUiove socii contra 
populurn Bomanum arma sumpsissent, was proposed soon after Varius entered the 
tribunate, i. e. : either in December, b. c. 91, or in January, b. c. 90. 

3 That is, citizens. See p. 15, n. 4. 

4 L. Calpurnius Piso carried a law (lex Calpnrnla de civitate) which empowered a gen- 
eral to confer citizenship on the Italians serving in his army. 

5 The lex Plautia judicaria ; each tribe was to choose 15 jurymen either from the 
senators, equites, or people. 



B. C. 89.] THE STRUGGLE FOE THE FRANCHISE. 239 

party. The passage of this law shows that the moderate party 
had obtained the upper hand. The ultras were in turn con- 
demned and compelled to go into exile, among whom was 
Varius himself. This prosecution arrayed party against party 
and sowed the bitterest discord among the people. 

12. The Condition of the Allies. — The results of the 
war had completely justified the concessions of the moderate 
party ; but the manner in which the concessions 1 had been 
made produced deep discontent among the allies. The new 
citizens had been crowded into eight tribes, which were to vote 
last, and in case twenty-two out of the thirty-five old tribes 
agreed, the matter was already decided, and the new tribes did 
not come to a vote at all. Besides, the increase in the num- 
ber of citizens 2 was so great that no public place in Eome was 
large enough to contain them. Scattered as they were all over 
Italy south of the Po, it was impossible for the vast multitude 
to come to Eome on the days when the public assemblies were 
held. 3 The restrictions under which they voted might have 
been necessary and beneficial, had the Roman citizens been 



1 Instead of granting equality of rights to all Italian communities, the Romans had 
only expressed the inferiority in another form. They had received a great number of 
Italian communities into Roman citizenship, but had attached to what they thus con- 
ferred an injurious stigma, by placing the new citizens alongside of the old on nearly 
the same footing as the freedmen occupied alongside of the free born. They had irri- 
tated rather than pacified the communities between the Po and the Alps by the conces- 
sion of Latin rights. Lastly, they had withheld the franchise from a considerable, and 
that not the worst, portion of the Italians— the whole of the insurgent communities 
which had again submitted; and not only so, but, instead of restoring in a legal shape 
the former treaties annulled by the insurrection, they had at the utmost renewed them 
as a matter of favor and rendered them revocable at pleasure. The disability as regarded 
the right of voting gave the deeper oifence, that it was— as the comitia were then con- 
stituted — politically absurd, and the hypocritical care of the government for the un- 
stained purity of the electors appeared to every unprejudiced person ridiculous; but all 
these restrictions were dangerous, inasmuch as they invited every demagogue to carry 
his ulterior objects by taking up the more or less just demands of the new citizens and 
of the Italians excluded from the franchise. . . . But still deeper indignation swelled 
the heart of the old man (i. e., Marius) who had gone forth to the Italian war with 
revived hopes and had come back from it reluctantly, with the consciousness of having 
rendered new services, and of having received in return new and most severe mortifica- 
tions, with the bitter feeling of being no longer dreaded, but despised by his enemies, 
with that gnawing spirit of vengeance in his heart which feeds on its own poison.— 
Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii, p. 268 ff. 

2 According to Livy (epit. lxxxviii), the number of citizens for b. c. 70 was 900,000 ; 
while the last census before the war showed 394,336; see p, 232, n. 3. 

3 This Marsic war, which introduced the Italians into Rome, permanently destroyed 
the unity of the city (see p. 211), which had so long been maintained by the patricians. 
Before the old temple of Quirinus, says Pliny (xv. 36), there grew two myrtles, the 
one patrician, the other plebeian. The first, which had been green and vigorous up to 
the Marsic war, thereafter languished and withered, while the other flourished and grew 
strong — Vol, Max., ix, 5, 



240 THE STRUGGLE FOE THE FRANCHISE. [b. C. 88. 

what they once 'were ; but the people long ago had lost all power, 
and the voters in the public assemblies were for the most part 
an ignoble rabble, composed of the freedmen of all nations. 
They took, however, the spirit of ancient Eome, believed them- 
selves Eomans, asserted their superiority over the new citizens, 
and defended the unity of the city. Finally, the franchise had 
been entirely withheld from the Samnites who had remained 
in arms 1 and had not complied with the provisions of the 
Plautian law. 

13. The Financial Crisis. — Meanwhile events had oc- 
curred in the East which rendered it imperatively necessary to 
declare war against Mithridates, king of Pontus, and to assign 
one of the consuls 2 with a new army to conduct the war there 
(b. c. 88). The state treasury, however, after a war of two 
years, was completely exhausted, and in order to equip a new 
army, the Eomans had to raise money by selling for building 
lots the land in front of the capitol, which had been left vacant 
for the use of the pontiffs, augurs, and ffamens. The dis- 
tress produced by the Social war, followed by the breaking out 
of hostilities with Mithridates, ruined thousands. The capi- 
talists and all who had their property invested in Asia Minor, 
no longer receiving returns, were compelled to suspend pay- 
ments. Terrible financial distress set in at Eome, and interest 
rose to enormous rates. The debtors in their distress sought 
relief from the praetor A. Sempronius Asellio, who revived the 
Genucian law which authorized the debtors to sue for fourfold 
the amount of interest paid above the legal rate. 3 This so 
enraged the creditors that they assembled in the forum and 
attacked and killed the praetor before the eyes of the people. 4 



1 See p. 238. 2 Snlla was elected consul for b. c. 88. 3 See p. 68. 

* Matters stood again exactly as they had stood during the strife of the orders ; once 
more the capitalists in league with the prejudiced aristocracy made war against, and 
prosecuted, the oppressed multitude and the middle party which advised a modification 
of the rigid letter of the law ; once more Rome stood on the verge of that abyss into 
which the despairing debtor drags his creditor along with him. But since that time, the 
simple civil and moral organization of a great agricultural city had been succeeded by 
the social antagonisms of a capital of many nations, and by that demoralization in which 
the prince and the beggar meet ; now everything had come to be on a broader, more 
abrupt, and fearfully grander scale. When the Social war brought all the political and 
social elements fermenting among the citizens into collision with each other, it laid the, 
foundation for a new revolution,— Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 271 £ 



B.C. 88.] THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 241 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Fiest Civil War (B. C. 88-86).— The Proscription" 
of the Senatorial Party (B. C. 87). 

1. The Rise of Sulla. — Meanwhile the war in the East 
grew more threatening every day, and the senate was compelled 
to assign the management of it to one of the consuls. The lot 
fell upon Sulla, who was still engaged in the siege of the Sam- 
nites and the Lucanians in Kola. The selection of Sulla deeply 
offended Marius, who had long regarded the conduct of that 
war as his due. Sulla, however, during the Social war, had 
greatly increased his popularity. In the campaign against 
Jugurtha as Marius's legate, he had first displayed that bravery 
and audacity to which he owed his reputation. He took part 
in the Cimbric wars, where he displayed his remarkable talent in 
a still more striking manner. In b. c. 93 he was elected praetor, 
and at the Apollinarian games exhibited for the amusement of 
the people a hundred African lions which were put to death 
in the circus by archers sent from Africa. A few years later 
when Bocchus had gilded figures erected in the capitol repre- 
senting the surrender of Jugurtha to Sulla, the exasperation of 
Marius knew no bounds. In the Social war private quarrels 
had been hushed, and Marius and Sulla both offered their 
services. But Marius was so far advanced in age that he lost 
his renown as a soldier, and saw the laurels which he hoped to 
gather reaped by his opponent. Sulla's brilliant exploits estab- 
lished his reputation as a soldier, and raised him to the consul- 
ship ; and now, entrusted by the senate with the command in 
the East, new fields of conquest were open to his ambition. 

2. The Sulpician Laws (b. c. 88). — Marius, however, had 
long coveted this distinction, and determined not to yield to 
his rival without a struggle. He left his beautiful villa at 
Misenum, and appeared daily in the Campus Martius, and ex- 
ercised with the young men. His enemies asked him what had 
become of the nervousness which had paralyzed his movements 



242 THE FIKST CIVIL WAR. [B. C. 88. 

in the Social war. In order to regain his popularity, he under- 
took the cause of the Italians, and induced the tribune P. Sul- 
picius,, who had renounced his nobility x in order to become a 
candidate for the tribunate, to propose measures to conciliate 
the Italians and knights, and finally to procure for him the 
conduct of the Asiatic war. These proposals were : 

1. That the new citizens and freedmen should be distrib- 
uted among all the tribes. 2 

2. That those citizens condemned under the Varian law 
should be recalled from exile. 3 

3. That every senator who owed more than two thousand 
denarii 4 should forfeit his seat in the senate. 5 

3. Civil War (b. c. 88). — Sulla returned to Eome to pre- 
vent the tribune from carrying these rogations, and declared 
all the remaining days of the year holidays ; 6 during which 
no business could be legally transacted. This, however, 
made no difference to Sulpicius. With a body-guard of six 
hundred knights whom he called his anti-senate, and three 
thousand freedmen, he compelled Sulla amid scenes of tumult 
and bloodshed to withdraw the justitiumJ After Sulla had 
left the city, Sulpicius came forward with his principal pro- 
posal : that the command in the Mithridatic war should be 
transferred to Marius. 8 Two military tribunes sent to the 



1 As none but plebeians could hold this office, patricians often renounced the privi- 
leges of their rank in order to qualify them ; this was called transitio ad plebem. 

2 Tit novi cives libertinique in omnes tribus distribuerentur. — Liv. Ep. 77 ; if the allies 
were admitted to all the tribes, they would outnumber the old citizens, and could easily 
confer the command on Marius. 

3 Ut vi ejecti revocarentur.—lAv. Ep. 77 : i.e., those equites who were condemned after 
the change in the popular feeling. See p. 358. 

4 About $400. 

5 This was also in the interest of the equites, as the senate, thus purified, was to be 
filled up from their order {Plut. Sulla, 8). For a different interpretation of these laws, 
see Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 274 f. 

6 Ferice imperative ; all days with the Eomans were either dies fasti, when business 
could be transacted, or dies nefasti, when business was suspended,. All days consecrated 
to the worship of the gods, to feasts or games, were festi, and were either ferice publicce 
or privatoe. Ferice publicce were : {\) ferice, stativce, holidays observed every year on a 
fixed day ; (2) ferice conceptivce were observed every year on days fixed by the priests ; 
(3) ferice imperatival were extraordinary holidays for supplication or thanksgiving 
appointed by the magistrates. 

7 A time in which all public business was suspended. It was proclaimed by the senate 
and magistrates in times of public danger, and when tranquillity had been restored it was 
removed. - 

8 Ut Sullce imperium abrogaretur, G. Mario privato pro'consule provincia Asia et bellum 
$ecemeretur Mithridaticum— lav. Ep K 77 ; also Plut. Mar. 34, Sull. 8, 



B. C. 88.] THE FIKST CIVIL WAK. 243 

consul's camp before JSTola to take command of the army for 
Marius were killed by the soldiers, who, correctly interpreting 
the wish of their beloved leader, demanded to be led to Rome. 
At the head of six legions Sulla set out for the city. The 
resistance of Marius and Sulpicius was soon overcome, and for 
the first time in the annals of the city a Eoman army encamped 
within the walls ; for the first time party questions were solved 
by the sword. On the next day Sulla summoned the senate, 
which declared Marius and Sulpicius and ten others public 
enemies. Sulpicius was overtaken and put to death, but 
Marius succeeded in making his escape. 

4. Legislation of Sulla.— The Sulpician laws were an- 
nulled, and such new provisions as seemed necessary for the 
security of the oligarchy were carried. 

1. The power of the tribune was limited as it was before 
the Hortensian law, that is, every proposal must first be sub- 
mitted to the senate and could only come before the people in 
case the senate approved. 1 

2. The old Servian arrangement for voting in the comitia 
centuriata was restored. 2 

3. The senate was filled up by the admission of three hun- 
dred new members selected from the party of the optimates. 

To relieve the condition of the poor and of the hard- 
pressed debtors, colonies were founded and the old law in re- 
gard to the maximum rate of interest was restored. 3 After 
holding the consular elections for B.C. 87, in which Cn. Octavius/ 
a strict optimate, and Cornelius Cinna, a member of the Ma- 
rian party, were elected, Sulla, first making Cinna promise 
that he would not disturb the existing order of things, left 
Italy to commence the campaign against Mithridates. 

5. The Wanderings of Marius. — Meanwhile Marius had 
met with the most remarkable adventures. The victor of Ver- 
cellse had still a strong hold on the affections of the people, 
and all Italy was interested in his fate. He embarked from 



1 The lex Cornelia Pompeja de tribunicia potestate. 

2 The lex Cornelia. Pompeja $e comitiis centuriatis ; see p. 22. 



' See p. ( 



244 THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. [B. C. 88. 

Ostia in a vessel bound for Africa, but a storm compelled him 
to land at the Circejan promontory. Being deserted by the 
sailors, he took refuge at first in the hut of a poor fisherman, 
and then in the marsh near Minturnae, where, in order to con- 
ceal himself he sank in the mud up to his throat. Here he was 
discovered and dragged before the magistrates of Minturnae, 
for a proclamation had already been made in all these towns 
that a general search should be made for Marius, and that he 
should be put to death wherever he was found. The magis- 
trates sent a slave — one of the Cimbri whom Marius had sent 
to Italy— to put him to death. The prison in which he lay was 
dark, and, to the frightened barbarian the eyes of the old gen- 
eral seemed to flash fire, and from the darkness a haughty voice 
demanded: " Durst thou kill G. Marius." 1 

6. Marius's Escape to Africa. — The sword fell from 
the hand of the barbarian, and he fled exclaiming : " I cannot 
kill Gajus Marius." When the magistrates heard this, they 
were struck with remorse at their conduct towards the pre- 
server of Italy. " Let him go," said they ; " let the exile go 
and await his destiny in some other land. It is time that we 
should deprecate the anger of the gods, who have refused the 
poor, the naked wanderer the rights of hospitality." They 
got a vessel ready, and sent him to the island of iEnaria 
(Ischia), where he was joined by many of his proscribed 
friends. From here he sailed for Africa ; but hearing on the 
way that his son had taken refuge with Hiempsal, king of 
Numidia, he landed at the site of Carthage. He had scarcely 
set foot on shore when the praetor Sextilius sent an officer who 
said : " Marius, I come from the praetor to tell you that he 
forbids you to set foot in Africa. If you do not obey, he will 
execute the decree of the senate and treat you as a public 
enemy." On hearing this Marius was struck dumb with grief 
and astonishment. At length he said with a sigh, " Go tell 
the praetor that you have seen Gajus Marius a fugitive sitting 
amidst the ruins of Carthage." At length, being joined by his 

1 Plut. Mar, 



B. C. 87.] THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 245 

son, he crossed to the island of Cercina, where he waited for 
the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Utican seer, for he had 
not yet been consul for the seventh time. 

7. The Marian Party. — Scarcely had Sulla departed, 
when Cinna, supported by the majority of the tribunes, pro- 
posed that the new citizens and freedmen should be enrolled 
in the thirty-five tribes, 1 and that the exiles should be recalled. 2 
The senate, headed by Octavius, determined not to yield. Both 
parties appeared armed on the day of voting. Octavius, after 
a dreadful conflict, in which as many as ten thousand were slain, 
gained the victory. Cinna, being deprived of his office and 
driven from the city, fled to the army of Claudius, whom Sulla 
had left in command in Campania. Having obtained its 
support, and being joined by a vast number of the Italians, 3 he 
marched to Eome. The senate recalled the army of Pompejus 
Strabo from Cisalpine Gaul, and directed Metellus Pius, who 
had charge of the war against the Samnites, to conclude peace, 
and return to Home. When Marius heard of these events, he 
set sail from Africa, landed at Telamon with a few followers, 
occupied one place after another on the coast until Ostia fell 
into his hands. This cut Rome off from communication with 
the sea, and Marius moved rapidly up the Tiber, captured Mons 
Janiculus and united his forces with those of Cinna. Strabo 
and Octavius succeeded in retaking the Janiculus, and the 
senate, in order to increase the army, conferred citizenship 
on all the allies who had been subdued in the Social war and 
had not complied with the lex Plautia Papiria. 4 A few of the 
government troops arrived, not more than sixteen cohorts, not 
enough to supply the places of those who had fallen. 

8. The Proscription of the Senatorial Party. — The 
government, however, did not despair. On the arrival of 
Metellus, it prepared to offer battle to the insurgents on the 
Alban Mount, but the untrustworthiness of the army compelled 
the senate to capitulate. Cinna was recognized as consul, and 

1 The lex Cornelia de novorum civium et libertinorum svffragiis, probably a re-enact- 
ment of the lex Sulpicia; see p. 242. 2 The lex Cornelia de exulibus revocqndis, 
3 As many as thirty legions. 
* The lex Cornelia de V. Mario et ceteris exulibus reVQcandis. 



246 PROSCRIPTION OF THE SENATORIAL PARTY. [B.C. 86. 

with the sole condition to refrain from bloodshed, was admitted 
into the city. But Marius refused to enter the gates until 
the sentence of outlawry against him was recalled. The armies 
then marched in, and the soldiers were let loose for a massacre, 
which lasted five days. The most distinguished men of the 
state were put to death and their property confiscated. The 
consul Octavius was slain while sitting in his curule chair and 
arrayed in his consular robes. Among the slain were L. Julius 
Caesar, the hero of Acerrae, and his brother Gajus, M. Anto- 
nius, the celebrated orator, Q. Lutatius Catulus, who had tri- 
umphed with Marius over the Cimbri, and P. Licinius Crassus 
Dives. Cinna was soon tired of the slaughter, but Marius 
required new victims every day. The bodies were refused 
burial, the heads of the senators were fixed to the rostra in the 
forum. Marius revelled in the scenes of blood, and his body- 
guard of Vardaejans, as he called the band of Illyrian slaves 
that had escaped from the ergastula x in Etruria and fled to 
him, struck down every one who displeased him. Sulla was 
proscribed and his property confiscated. 

9. The Seventh Consulship of Marius.— Without the 
forms of an election Cinna declared himself and Marius con- 
suls for the next year (b. c. 86). The Utican seer was right. 
The gods granted Marius the seventh consulship, but fear of 
Sulla and pangs of conscience haunted him day and night. 
Hated by all parties, he sought forgetfulness in the wine-cup, 
and> wearied with life, he died on the thirteenth day of his 
consulship, in the seventy-first year of his age. Order was in 
some measure restored, though for two years longer Cinna 
disregarded all constitutional forms and exercised dictatorial 
powers. L. Valerius Flaccus was appointed consul in the place 
of Marius, and suitable laws 2 were carried by the two consuls 

1 These were slave pens. 

2 The lex Plautia judicaria (p. 238) was repealed and the jurymen were to be taken 
exclusively from the equites ; the laws of Sulla {levies Comeliae) were repealed ; the prov- 
inces redistributed ; a census was taken (b. c. 86) for the purpose of distributing the 
Italians in all the tribes according to thefeE Cornelia de novorum civium svffragiis, but 
the returns gave only 463,000 (in b. c. 115, 394,336), showing that only a few of the new 
citizens had complied with the Plautian law ; and Flaccus carried a law (lex Valeria de 
cere attend) to secure the favor of the people, which cancelled all debfc by the payment of 
one-fourth of the amount due— a measure that had become necessary, because such a large 
number of Roman citizens had lo§t their property invested in Asia Minor, in consequence 
of the Mithridatic war, 



B. C. 88.] THE FIKST MITHRIDATIC WAR. 247 

which they hoped would render their authority secure. The 
government of China was a real tyranny. In utter disregard 
of the- people to whom he owed his power, he had himself and 
Cn. Papirius Carbo declared consuls for the two following years. 
Meanwhile L. Valerius Flaccus had been appointed to super- 
sede Sulla, and had departed on his perilous mission. 



-♦• ♦ •*- 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The First Mithridatic War (B. C. 88-84). 

1. Mithridates and the East. — The arrangements which 
the Komans had made in Asia Minor after the subjugation of 
Aristonicus 1 remained unchanged, except that Phrygia had 
been added to the Roman province. 2 The other countries, al- 
though nominally free and governed by independent princes, 
had been treated more and more by Rome as dependent states. 
Pontus, the most remote of these kingdoms in the northeast, 
extending along the Euxine sea from the river Halys to the 
frontiers of Colchis, had, like the others, originally been a 
satrapy of the Persian kings. The country had, however, for 
many centuries been independent, and the throne had de- 
scended through eight generations to Mithridates VI., surnamed 
Eupator, and the Great. He was only twelve years old when 
his father was cut off by the dagger of the assassin (b.c. 120). 

2. His Plans of Conquest.— Mithridates became a man 
of remarkable powers of mind and body. 3 As soon as he came 

1 See p. 179. 2 The province embraced at first Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. 

3 The armor which fitted the gigantic frame of king Mithridates excited the wonder 
of the Asiatics, and Btill more that of the Italians. As a runner, he overtook the swiftest 
deer ; as a rider, he broke in the wild steed, and was able by changing horses to accom- 
plish 120 miles in a May ; as a charioteer, he drove sixteen in hand, and gained in compe- 
tition many a prize — it was dangerous, no doubt, in such sport to carry off victory from 
the king. In hunting on horseback, he hit the game at full gallop, and never missed his 
aim. His intellectual wants he satisfied by the wildest superstition— the interpretation 
of dreams and the Greek mysteries occupied not a few of the king's hours — and by a 
rude adoption of Hellenic civilization. He was fond of Greek art and music, that is to 
say, he collected precious articles, rich furniture, old Persian and Greek objects of lux- 
ury—his cabinet of rings was famous : he had constantly Greek historians, philosophers, 
and poets in his train, and proposed prizes at his court festivals, not only for the great- 
est eaters an4 drinkers, but also for the merriest jester and the best singer. He prose;- 



248 THE FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. [B. C. 92. 

of age (b. c. 113), he endeavored to extend his dominions as far 
as he could without coming in contact with the Eomans. Col- 
chis. Lesser Armenia, the Tauric Chersonese with its capital 
Ponticapaeum (Kertch), were annexed to his kingdom. He 
formed treaties with other tribes on the Black sea, and even as 
far as the Danube, and in the East allied himself with Ti- 
granes, king of Armenia, by giving him his daughter in mar- 
riage. After making these preparations, he felt himself strong 
enough to contend with Eome herself. In order to bring Cap- 
padocia 1 under his sway, he attempted to place upon the 
throne one of his nephews. The Eomans interposed, and 
Sulla, who was then propraetor in Cilicia, received orders to 
interfere. Mithridates was still anxious to avoid a collision 
with Eome, and therefore left the management of affairs to 
Tigranes. Sulla, with a small force, drove the king's auxiliaries 
out of the country, and permitted the people of Cappadocia to 
choose Ariobarzanes as their king. Sulla, however, had scarcely 
left the country when Tigranes fell upon Ariobarzanes and 
expelled him from Cappadocia (b. c. 92). 

3. Mithridates' Invasion of Asia. — In the following year 
Mithridates interfered in Bithynia, and set up a rival claimant 
to the throne, although the Eomans had recognized Nicomedes 
as king. Ariobarzanes and Mcomedes both appealed to Eome 
for aid. The consul Manius Aquillius was sent to Asia as 



cuted the experimental study of poisons and antidotes as an important branch of the 
business of government, and tried to inure his body to particular poisons. 

What really distinguishes Mithridates among the multitude of similar sultans was his 
boundless activity. He disappeared one morning from his palace and remained unheard 
of for months, so that he was given up for lost. When he returned, he had wandered 
incognito through all Asia Minor, and reconnoitred everywhere the country and people. 
He was not only fluent in speech, but administered justice to each of the twenty-two 
nations over which he ruled, in its own language, without needing an interpreter. 

Notwithstanding his Hellenic culture, which sat on him not much better than the 
Roman armor on his Cappadocians, he was throughout an Oriental of the ordinary stamp, 
coarse, full of the most sensual appetites, superstitious, cruel, perfidious, and unscrupu- 
lous ; but so vigorous in organization, so powerful in physical endowments, that his de- 
fiant laying about him and his unshaken courage in resistance looked like genius. The 
Mithridatic war formed at once the last movement of the political opposition offered by 
Hellas to Rome, and the beginning of a revolt against the Roman supremacy resting on 
very different and far deeper grounds of antagonism — the national reaction of the 
Asiatics against the Occidentals. — Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iii., p. 275 f. 

1 Cappadocia had formerly belonged to Pontus, but when the Romans gave Mithri- 
dates 1 father Great Phrygia (about the same as the present Phrygia, except that a por- 
tion of its territory on the west had been added to the province of Asia) as a reward for 
his services in the wars against Carthage and against Aristonicus, they deprived him of 
Cappadocia^ 



No. 4. 




B. C. 87.] THE FIEST MITHRIDATIC WAR. 249 

envoy to settle the difficulties. Mithridates yielded again, and 
the two kings ascended their thrones. At the instigation of 
Aquillius, Nicomedes declared war against Mithridates, closed 
the Bosporus to his vessels, and made predatory excursions into 
his territory. The king of Ponttis, however, remained un- 
shaken in his policy of peace, until he had applied to the 
Koman envoy either to restrain Mcomedes or to allow him to 
defend himself. Aquillius, who had instigated the war for his 
own profit, informed the king that he must refrain from war 
with Mcomedes. This was the old policy of Eome acted over 
again. Mithridates, with the courage of despair, prepared for 
war, 1 and ordered his generals, Neoptolemus and Archelaus to 
invade Bithynia. They defeated Mcomedes and drove him 
from his kingdom, captured Aquillius and put him to death 
with torture, and even invaded the Eoman province. Here the 
extortions of the tax-gatherers, the rapacity of the Koman mer- 
chants, and the oppression of the slave speculators, had pro- 
duced such deep discontent that the people everywhere hailed 
Mithridates as their deliverer. Civil war had broken out at 
Eome, and Sulla was detained at home. No sufficient force 
opposed the king. From Ephesus, he issued orders to put to 
death on the same day all the Italians with their wives and 
children residing in Asia Minor. 2 Taking up his winter- 
quarters at Pergamus, he sent Archelaus with a fleet to extend 
his empire to the west, while another army advanced along the 
Thracian coast as far as Macedonia. The most of the islands 
of the Grecian archipelago submitted, and even Athens and 
nearly all Greece declared in favor of Mithridates. 

4. Sulla Lands in Epirus (b. c. 87). — In the beginning of 
the next year Sulla landed in Epirus with five legions. 3 Ad- 
vancing directly to Athens, where Archelaus had intrenched 
himself, he captured the city after a stubborn resistance, 4 and 
gave it up to plunder and massacre. Meanwhile the second 
army of Mithridates under Taxiles had arrived in Greece, and 



1 His army numbered 250,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry, and 400 ships. 

2 According to some accounts 80,000 were murdered ; and to others, as manyas 150,000, 

3 About 30,000 men. * March 1, 86 B, c, 



250 THE FIKST MITHEIDATIC WAK. [B. C. 86. 

Archelaus joined it in Boeotia. Sulla defeated both armies, 
first at Chaeronea (b. c. 86), and then at Orchomenus (b.c. 85). 
Meanwhile Flaccus, 1 who had been appointed to supersede 
Sulla, had arrived in Greece with two legions; but finding 
Sulla's soldiers deaf to all his solicitations to desert their com- 
mander, he retired to Macedonia and marched through Thrace 
to Asia Minor. Soon after Flaccus fell a victim to an insurree- 
tion headed by Gr. Flavius Fimbria, a Roman demagogue who 
was serving in the army as a legate. He had acquired such 
popularity with the soldiers that on the death of Flaccus he 
was raised by them to the chief command. Sulla took up his 
winter-quarters in Thessaly. 

5. Conclusion of Peace (b. c. 84). — In the meantime 
affairs had changed in Asia Minor. Mithridates had shown 
himself in his true colors of a savage Asiatic despot. At first 
he had come forward as a liberator of the Hellenes, but his 
tyranny had alienated these, and all the provincials were ready 
to receive the Eomans back. L. Licinius Lucullus, Sulla's 
legate, who afterwards commanded in the second Mithridatic 
war, collected a fleet, and gained two victories off the coast of 
Asia Minor. Just at this time Fimbria had defeated the 
younger Mithridates, captured Pergamus, the capital of the 
Pontic king, and compelled Mithridates himself to take refuge 
in Mitylene. These repeated disasters made Mithridates anx- 
ious for peace. The preliminaries, however, which were settled 
with Archelaus in Greece during the winter, were rejected by 
the king, who asserted that Fimbria would grant more favorable 
terms. Sulla broke off negotiations and crossed the Helles- 
pont (B.C. 84). This brought Mithridates to his senses. In a 
personal interview with the king at Dardanus, the terms were 
definitely settled. Mithridates abandoned all his conquests in 
Asia Minor, confined himself to the dominions which he had 
held before the war, paid three thousand talents, 2 and surren- 
dered eighty ships-of-war fully equipped. 

6. Death of Fimbria. — Sulla was now at liberty to pro- 



1 See p. 246, 2 pearly $4,000,000, 



B. C. 83.] SULLA CRUSHES THE MARIAN PARTY. 251 

ceed against Fimbria, who was at Thyatira. After vainly 
attempting to induce his soldiers to fight, Fimbria fled to Per- 
gamus and put an end to his own life. 1 Sulla imposed upon 
the inhabitants of the province of Asia an enormous contribu- 
tion of twenty thousand talents, 2 which delivered them com- 
pletely into the hands of the Eoman bankers and speculators, 
from whom they were compelled to borrow the money at an 
exorbitant rate of interest. 



chapter xxxviii. 
Sulla Crushes the Marian Party. 

1. Sulla's Return to Italy (b.c. 83). — During Sulla's 
absence, the Marian government, under Cinna, had been a real 
despotism. It was evident, from the time that Oinna had de- 
clared him a public enemy and sent Flaccus to relieve him in 
command, that Sulla intended to overthrow this government by 
force of arms. Tidings had arrived from time to time of his 
success, and finally in b. c. 84 a letter came from Sulla himself 
to the senate, announcing the end of the war and his return to 
Italy. The first general of the age and at the head of a de- 
voted army, he had little to fear from his adversaries ; yet, 
knowing that their strength lay in the city mob and the Ital- 
ians, he attempted to conciliate both of these by declaring that 
he would respect the rights of the new citizens, and that pun- 
ishment should fall on the authors of the trouble and not on 
the people. 

2. Civil "War (b. c. 83). — The senate in alarm sent an 
embassy to Sulla expressing a desire for peace, and at the same 
time ordered the consuls Cinna and Carbo to suspend their 

1 His soldiers were not allowed to return to Rome, but were condemned to military 
service in Asia Minor. 

2 Nearly $25,000,000, the amount of the tribute for fiye years. 



252 



SULLA CRUSHES THE MARIAtf PARTY. [b. C. 83. 



preparations for war. This, however, made no difference with 
the consuls, who knew that a reconciliation was impossible. 
Cinna hastened to Ancona, with the intention of crossing over 
to Greece to meet Sulla, but the soldiers mutinied and put him 
to death. 1 Still the Marian party continued its preparations 
and raised an army of nearly two hundred thousand men. 
There was tremendous excitement in Rome when Sulla landed, 
in the spring of B. c. 83, at Brundisium, with an army of forty 
thousand men. The senate declared the republic in danger 
and bestowed upon the consuls" unlimited powers. Sulla, 
in his advance through Calabria and Apulia to Campania, 
was joined by Metellus Pius and M. Licinius Crassus, and 
many members of the optimate party. Cn. Pompejus, 2 the 
son of Pompejus Strabo, rendered important aid by levying 
three legions in Picenum at his own expense, and reinforced 
Sulla in Apulia. 3 In Campania, at Mount Tifata, Sulla de- 
feated the consul Norbanus, who took refuge in Capua. Sulla 



1 Lucius Scipio and Gajus Norbanus were elected consuls for b. c. 83. 

* GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 
Cn. Pompejus. 



Sex. Pompejus, 
m. Lucllia. 



Sex. Pompejus, 
vir. doctus, b. c. 89. 



Cn. Pompejus Strabo, 
cos. b. c. 89. 



Sex. Pompejus, 



Sex. Pompejus, 
cos. b. c. 35. 



Q. Pompejus. 



Cn. Pompejus Magnus, 
triumvir, m. 

1. Antistia, 

2. ^Emilia, 

3. Mucia, 

4. Julia. 

5. Cornelia. 



Sex. Pompejus, • i j " I 

COS. A. D. 14. 

Cn. Pompejus Magnus, Sex. Pompejus Magnus, Pompeja, m. 

m. Claudia ; died, m. Scribonia ; died, Faustus 

b. c. 45. b. c. 35. Sulla. 

3 Sulla saluted him as imperator, i. e., one commanding with an independent impe- 
rium ; for the meaning of imperium see pp. 50 and 53, n. 1. 



B.C. 82.] SULLA CBCJSHES THE MARIAN PAETY. 253 

now turned against Scipio, and opened communications with 
him for peace, and concluded an armistice. By means of 
Sulla's emissaries, Scipio soon found himself deserted by his 
troops, and as no terms of peace were agreed upon, was com- 
pelled to resign his office and retire from the war. Sulla and 
Metellus took up their winter-quarters in Campania and main- 
tained the blockade of Capua. 

3. The Battle of Clusium (e.g. 82).— In the meantime 
Cn. Papirius Carbo hastened from the camp of Norbanus to 
Eome and had Sulla and the leaders of his party declared 
public enemies, and the consulship conferred upon himself and 
Gajus Marius, the younger, although the latter had not yet 
attained the legal age for that office (b. c. 82). Carbo under- 
took the conduct of the war in the north against Metellus, 
while Marius was charged with the task of holding Sulla in 
check in the south. At Sacriportus, between Signia and Prse- 
neste, Marius was utterly defeated and shut up in Praeneste. 
This left the road to Eome open to Sulla, 1 but before he could 
arrive there, Marius found time to send orders to the praetor 
G. Damasippus to evacuate the city after putting to death his 
leading opponents. The most distinguished senators were 
struck down in the senate-chamber ; among the distinguished 
men who fell were the sediles Publius Antistius and Gajus 
Carbo, the two best judicial orators of the age, and the pontif ex 
maximus Q. Mucius Scaevola. Sulla entered the city in a few 
days, and after a brief stay there, marched to Etruria to join 
Metellus and Pompejus in the campaign against Carbo. After 
several trifling engagements, he so thoroughly defeated Carbo 
at Clusium, that the latter gave up the war and fled to Africa. 

4. The Battle at the Colline Gate (b. c. 82).— Mean- 
while the army of the Samnites and Lucanians under Pontius 
Telesinus came to the relief of Praeneste, but finding their 
advance to that city cut off by Sulla, who had hastily come 
from Etruria, they advanced directly upon Eome, " For," said 
Pontius, " there will be no peace for Italy until the forest is 

1 He left Q. Lucretius Ofella to continue the siege of Praeneste. 



254 SULLA CEUSHES THE MAKIAK PARTY. [b. C. 82. 

rooted up in which the Eoman wolves have their dens." x Had 
not Sulla appeared in time, Kome would have been lost. The 
battle was fought before the Colline gate and was long and 
furious. The victory hung so long in the balance that Sulla 
in despair invoked the Pythian Apollo to lend his aid. 2 The 
Samnites fought with the courage of despair. The flower of 
their army was cut to pieces, and the prisoners to the number 
of three or four thousand were slaughtered in the Campus 
Martius. Their cries reached the temple of Bellona, 3 where 
Sulla was haranguing the senate. ". It is nothing," said he ; 
" I have only ordered some malefactors to be chastised." 4 This 
ended the resistance of the Marian party in Italy, and the last 
hope of the Samnites perished at the Colline gate. 5 In Sicily 
and Africa Pompejus gained an easy victory over Perpenna and 
Domitius Ahenobarbns, but in Spain Sertorius defied the power ' 
of Eome until b. c. 72. 

5. Sulla Proscribes His Opponents. — Sulla entered the 
city as the head of the optimate party, and after declaring to 
the people 6 that he would give them a better constitution, and 
that he should punish the leaders of the opposite party, who 
had taken part in the contest since the armistice with Scipio, 7 
he drew up a list 8 of those on whom he wished to take ven- 
geance. It contained the names not only of the leaders in the 
late war, but of the wealthy citizens and disaffected Italians. 
A reward 9 was set upon the head of the proscribed, their prop- 
erty confiscated, and punishment was threatened against all 
who sheltered or concealed them. New lists constantly ap- 
peared, and terror reigned not only at Eome but throughout 
Italy. The senate made no objection, and only ventured to 
assign the first of June, b. c. 81, as the limit for the bloody 



1 Veil. 27. 2 Plut. Still. 29. 

3 The temple of Bellona was in the Campus Martius, near the circus Flaminius. In 
this the senate received foreign ambassadors who were not admitted to the city, and vic- 
torious generals who claimed the honor of a triumph. It was here (after the Eomans ex- 
tended their dominions, so that it was not practicable to go to the enemy's frontier) that 
thefetialis made the declaration of war, for the area of the temple was regarded as for- 
eign territory, and the pillar in front (columna bellica) of the temple as the frontier, and 
the fetialis hurled the spear over this pillar. 

4 Plut. Sull. 30. 5 The battle was fought Nov. 1, b. c. 82. 6 In a contio. 

7 See p. 253. 8 Tabula proscriptions . a 12,000 denarii = about $2,300. 



B. C. 82.] SULLA CKUSHES THE MARIAX PARTY. 255 

work. List after list appeared, and as many as forty-seven 
thousand are said to have perished. The confiscated property, 
which Sulla himself sold at public auction, was bid in by his 
friends and dependents at a nominal price, as no one dared to 
bid against them. 1 Sometimes the purchase money was not 
paid at all, and sometimes Sulla bestowed estates upon his 
-favorites without the formality of a public sale. The wealth 
that had been wrung for many generations from the toil and 
blood of the slaves, from the plunder of the provinces, and 
from the ruined cities and people of Italy, became the spoil of 
the soldiers, the generals, and nobles, so that it was a common 
saying : " His fine house was the death of such a one, his gar- 
dens of another, his hot-baths of a third." One day a stranger 
came into the forum, and reading the list out of curiosity, saw 
his own name among the proscribed. " Ah ! unfortunate that 
I am," cried he, " my Alban villa has killed me." He had not 
gone far before he was overtaken and killed. 2 It was a fearful 
time; bands of soldiers traversed Italy to hunt down the pro- 
scribed. 3 Men of wealth were sometimes murdered first and 
then proscribed. 4 After this, Sulla celebrated his triumph, had 
the senate legalize all his acts while consul and proconsul, and 
ordered the erection of a gilded equestrian statue of himself 
in front of the rostra, with the inscription, " L. Cornelio Sidles 
imperatori Felici" 



1 Oic. Rose. Am. 8, 21 ; Pint. Cic. 3. Such creatures as P. Cornelius Chrysogonus, G. 
Verres, and P. Cornelius Sulla seized this opportunity to enrich themselves. 

2 Plut. Sull. 30. 

3 The victory of Sulla was the triumph of Roine over Italy ; in Rome itself, that of 
the nobles over the rich, particularly over the knights ; as for the common people, they 
existed only in name ; 2,600 knights were proscribed, with 80 senators belonging to 
their party. The terrible system of confiscation was applied to all Italy. In every place 
the men belonging to the opposite party were put to death, banished, or plundered; and 
not only themselves, bat their parents, their friends, those who knew them, those who 
had spoken to them, and even those who had accidentally traveled with them. Whole 
cities were proscribed, as well as men, and were plundered and depopulated to give place 
to the legions. Above all, the unfortunate Etruria, the only country which had still 
escaped the colonies and the agrarian laws, the only country in which the laborers were 
generally free, became rhe prey of the soldiers. Sulla founded a new town in the valley 
of the Arno, not far from Fiesole, and called it Florentia.— Appian, 1. c. ; Michelet, 1. c. 

4 Whoever killed one of these outlaws was not only exempt from punishment like 
an executioner duly fulfilling his office, but also obtained for the execution a compensa- 1 
tion of 12,000 denarii ($2500) ; anyone, on the contrary, who befriended an outlaw, even ' 
the nearest relative, was liable to the severest punishment. The property of the pro- 
scribed was forfeited to the state like the spoils of the enemy ; their children and grand- 
children were excluded rrom a political career, and yet, so far as they were of senatorial 
rank, were bound to undertake senatorial burdens. 



256 THE SULLAN CONSTITUTION, [b. C. 82-80. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Sullan Constitution (B.C. 82-80). 

1. The Rule of the Senate Restored. — Sulla now had 
time to turn his attention to the reorganization of the govern- 
ment, in the interest of the nobility. This party, since the 
time of the second Punic war, blind and obstinate, had more 
and more proved its un worthiness to govern the Eoman state. 
Sulla, in this restoration of the rule of the senate, restored what 
was already dead, and, blind to the influence of the popular 
party, attempted to push the great revolution back to the point 
at which, in his opinion, it ought to have stopped. It was 
therefore only a temporary arrangement, because the nobility, 
thoroughly corrupt and selfish, exercised the privileges entrusted 
to them, not for the good of the state, but for their own 
aggrandizement. The people soon regained their power, and 
misgovernment and anarchy prepared the way for the rule of 
one man who restored good government and peace to the 
exhausted Roman world. 

2. Sulla Dictator with Full Powers. — On the motion 
of L. Valerius Flaccus, the chief of the senate, Sulla was ap- 
pointed dictator with full 1 powers to regulate the state by new 
laws, to confiscate property, to pronounce sentence of death, to 
dissolve or establish communities in Italy, to fix its boundary, 
to found colonies, to confer the imperium, and to dispose of 
the provinces. Hitherto no one had held the office of dictator 
for more than six months ; Sulla was to hold it as long as he 
pleased. 

1 Dictator legibus scribendis et reipublicaz constitvendce, i. e., dictator for the making 
of laws and the regulating of the commonwealth. Sulla in some measure observed the 
forms of the constitution in being appointed dictator. As a consul only could nominate 
a dictator and both consuls were dead, Sulla retired from Rome and the senate elected an 
interrex, who appointed Sulla dictator. The dictator was formerly appointed for a par- 
ticular purpose and for a definite time : Sulla's dictatorship was unlimited in both the c e 
respects. Legally the first interrex could not appoint a dictator, and constitutionally the 
dictator was appointed under the lex de dicta-tore creando; but Sulla was appointed 
under the lex Valeria. He appeared with twice as many lictors (twenty-four) as the 
dictator in former times. The Valerian law was carried November, b. c. 82. 



B. C. 82-80.] THE SULLAK CONSTITUTION. 257 

3. Changes in the Constitution. 1 — He immediately set 
about carrying a series of laws to reconstruct the government 
in the interest of his own order. 

1. The tribunes were deprived of all their prerogatives 
except that of intercession. In order to make the office 
dependent on the senate, it was enacted that only senators 
could become tribunes, and whoever had been elected to the 
tribunate was ineligible to any curule office. 

2. In regard to other magistrates, the regulation of the lex 
annalis was enforced, that no one should be praetor before he 
had been quaestor, nor consul before he had been prastor. Can- 
didates for the quaestorship must be at least thirty years of age; 
the law of b. c. 151 which forbade re-election to the consulship 
was repealed, and that of b. c. 342 re-enacted, by which ten 
years must elapse before the same office could be held a second 
time. 

3. The number of praetors was increased from six to eight 
and the quaestors from twelve to twenty. It was definitely 2 set- 
tled that the consuls and praetors during the first year of office 
should devote themselves to civil duties in the city, but dur- 
ing the second year, as proconsuls and propraetors, undertake 
the government of one of the provinces. 3 There were at this 
time nine provinces : Sicilia, Sardinia, Hispania citerior, His- 
pania ulterior, Macedonia (with Achaja), Africa, Asia, Gallia 
Narlonensis, Cilicia, and Sulla probably organized Gallia 
Cisalpina as the tenth. 4 Sulla undertook the rebuilding of the 
Capitoline temple, which had been burnt during Carbo's 
absence from Eome, July 6, b. c. 83, and the reconstruction of 
the senate house. It was at this time that the pomerhim, the 



1 Lex Cornelia de tribunicia potentate. The right to impeach before the people was 
made dependent on the will of the senate. According to Mommsen (1. c. vol. iii., p. 882) 
the tribunes still had the right, on the previous permission of the senate, to carry laws 
in the assembly of tribes. This view is contradicted in the most positive manner by 
the authorities, especially by Caesar (b. c. i., 7), who exoressly says that all the prerog- 
atives of the tribunes except that of intercession were taken away. 

2 See p. 182 ; this, as many other provisions of the constitution, had long been the 
custom ; now it became a legal enactment. 

' A Every magistrate was to leave his province within thirty days after the arrival of 
his successor. 

4 See Mommsen. 1. c. vol. iii., p. 387 and note. The northern boundary of Italy was 
changed from the Msis to the Rubicon. 



258 THE SULLAK CONSTITUTION. [b. C. 82-80. 

dividing line between the civil and military authority, was 
extended to embrace all Italy, which was henceforth to be 
exempt from military authority, 1 the aim being to bring about 
a complete separation between the civil authority which gov- 
erned in districts inhabited by Eoman citizens, and the mili- 
tary authority which governed in other districts. 

4. The senate, which had been greatly reduced during the 
Civil war, was filled up with three hundred new members, elected 
by the comitia tribitta, from the equestrian order. The 
.revision of the roll of the senate by the censor was abolished, 

and all who had been quaestors were eligible to a seat in the 
senate. The office of jurymen was restored to the senate, and 
the revival of the old regulation by which the senate had the 
initiative in legislation, kept the public assemblies under its 
control. 

5. The foundation of the power of the nobility had been in 
the priestly colleges. Sulla repealed the Domitian law of 
B.C. 104, which bestowed upon the people the right of electing 
the members of these colleges, and restored that of co-optatio 
or self -election. The number of pontiffs and augurs was 
increased to fifteen respectively. 2 

6. The judicial system was reorganized, and permanent 
courts 3 were established for the trial of criminal cases. Al- 
ready as early as b. c. 149, by the Calpurnian law, a criminal 
court 4 had been organized for the trial of provincial governors 
in cases of extortion. Sulla established several new ones, and 
henceforth there were separate courts for exactions, 5 for mur- 
der, for high treason, 6 for adultery, 7 for forging of wills, 8 and 



1 Imperium militice. 

,J The lex Cornelia cle prescriptione has already been mentioned. For executing the 
provisions of the law more than 10,000 slaves were freed and enrolled as a body-guard. 
The work of confiscation was interrupted Jan. 27, b. c. 81, by the celebration of Sulla's 
magnificent triumph over Mithridates. His soldiers were then provided for. They were 
settled in all parts of Italy, whole districts were depopulated to give place for them. The 
towns, such as Nola and Volaterrge, that refused to receive the new settlers, were reduced 
and compelled to submit, and in place of citizenship received the jvs Latii. 

3 Qucestiones perpetum. * Qu.oestio rerum repetundarum. 

5 Lex Cornelia de pecvlatu. 

6 Lex Cornelia demajestate (i. e., treason against the greatness [majestas] of the state) 
took the place of the lex Appuleja of b. c. 100. 

7 De adulteriis. 

8 Lex Cornelia defalsis. 



B. 0. 82-80.] THE SULLAH CONSTITUTION. 259 

for injuries 1 to persons and for the disturbance of the public 
peace. 

7. One of the eight praetors presided in each of these courts, 
while the civil jurisdiction was left as before to the prcetor 
peregrinus and the prcetor urlanus. Sulla first established the 
distinction between the trial of civil cases before a single judge, 
and of criminal cases before a bench of jurymen. The jurymen 
were to be taken exclusively from the senators. As only the 
people could pronounce sentence of death or imprisonment, 
and as Sulla had transferred the trial of all cases of treason 
from the popular assembly to the courts, it followed that such 
cases could no longer be capitally punished. This took from 
the hands of the popular leaders one weapon that they had 
for many years wielded effectively. 

The Sumptuary laws 2 probably issued this year, were 
intended in place of the censors to restrain luxury by limiting 
the amount that could be expended at banquets. 3 A special 
law restrained the extravagance at funerals. 

These laws were submitted to the people in due form and 
carried. 4 

4. Effects of His Legislation. — Sulla's w T ork had been 
thorough, and he hoped that his constitution would be per- 
manent. It was a great mistake, however, to suppose that the 
old soldiers whom he settled on the confiscated lands of the 
Italians could become industrious and sober-minded citizens. 
It was a still greater one, to expect that the political ferment of 



1 Be injuriis. It was under this last law that Cicero in b. c. 80 defended Sex. Roscius. 
(See p. 289.) 

2 Lex Cornelia sumptuaria. 

3 These laws enacted that on the Kalendce, Nones, Ides, and on the days of the games 
(ludl) and of certain holidays (Ferice), three hundred sesterces could be expended upon 
entertainments, hut upon other days only thirty. The month was -divided by the Romans 
by the Ides into two portions : the Ides in March, May, July, and October fell on the 
fifteenth, and in the other months on the thirteenth. The eighth day before the Ides 
was termed the Nonoe (the Romans included the day from which they counted). The 
first of each month was called Kalendce. 

4 It is impossible to fix the date accuratply for the legislation of Sulla. The first five 
laws were probably issued before Jan. 27, b. c. 81, perhaps in November, b. c. 82 ; the 
triumph was celebrated Jan. 21, b. c. 81 ; from that time until June 1, b. c. 81, was the 
time of the proscription and the settlement of the soldiers in various parts of Italy. 
The other laws were issued before the end of b. c. 81, and the constitution went into 
effect at the beginning of b. c. 80. See Appian, b. c. i. 99 ff.; Livy, ep. 89 ; Cic. Rose. 
Am. 8, 22, 45 ; this case was tried in the summer of b. c. 80 (Gell. 15, 28), and was the 
first that came before the new jurymen.— Lange y 1. c, 157. 



260 THE SULLAK CONSTITUTION. [B. C. 82-80. 

the capital, for the moment hushed, would remain forever 
quiet. When agitation began again, party leaders found no- 
where stronger adherents than in these military colonies of 
Sulla. 

5. He Resigns the Dictatorship (b. c. 79).— For the 
space of nearly three years, Sulla, as dictator, had ruled the 
Eoman w r orld, when, to the astonishment of all, he resigned 
the regency and declared himself ready to render account to 
any one for his conduct. He retired to Puteoli that he might 
give himself up to that pleasure and rest which had ever been 
the chief aim of his life. Still he could not wholly withdraw 
his attention from public affairs. Only ten days before his 
death he reconciled the contending parties in Puteoli, and 
regulated their police laws. The very day before he died he 
had the quaestor Granius strangled by his bedside because he 
attempted to withhold the money due the state, hoping that 
Sulla's death would relieve him altogether of regulating his 
accounts. After a brief illness— he finished the twenty-second 
book of his autobiography tw T o days before his death — he died 
in the sixtieth year of his age, Many of his enemies combined 
to prevent his having the usual honors of burial, but his name 
was too powerful, and the senate decreed him a public funeral, 
the most magnificent Eome had ever seen. His soldiers came 
from all parts of Italy to do honor to the old hero who had led 
them so often to victory. The magnificent procession, headed 
by the senate and the magistrates, the priests arid the vestal 
virgins, and followed by the army, legion by legion, reached the 
Campus Martins, where the funeral pile was erected. 1 Here, 
according to the wish of Sulla himself, the body was burned 
and the ashes were deposited beside the tomb of the kings. His 
monument was erected in the Campus Martius, bearing an 
inscription composed by himself: "No friend ever did me a 
kindness, no enemy a wrong, without receiving full requital/' 2 

1 Sulla, although cruel, seems to have been a great favorite with the Eoman ladies. 
At his funeral they attended in great numbers, bringing such a quantity of aromatics, 
that besides those which were contained in 210 baskets, there was enough cinnamon and 
other precious spices to form a statue of Sulla of the size of life, and another of a lictor 
bearing the fasces before him. 

2 Pint, Sull. 40, 



B.C. 79.] SCANDALOUS RULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. 261 



chapter xl, 
The Scandalous Rule of the Oligarchy. 

1. The Opposition. — When Sulla delivered the Eoman 
state over to the consuls, it was under the absolute sway of the 
oligarchy. Still there were many discordant elements — the 
jurists who resented the violation of constitutional law, the 
moderate aristocracy who were inclined to compromise, the 
offended capitalists, the relatives and friends of the proscribed, 
the large class of men who had been ruined by the civil war, 
and finally the remnant of the popular party, the populares 9 
who only waited for an opportunity and a leader to overthrow 
the fabric which Sulla had reared. 1 

2. The Condition of Italy and the Provinces. — The 
condition of Italy since the Social and the Civil wars was inde- 
scribably wretched. The soldiers, too indolent to cultivate the 
land Sulla had given them, had squandered their fortunes and 
either returned to the capital or re-entered the military service. 
The lands were once more swallowed up in great estates, and 
devouring slavery made the free population disappear. Half of 
Italy was a desert, and in Samnium there was scarcely a town 
that was not in ruins. The soldiers had expelled the former 
population, which wandered in beggary or labored on their for- 
mer farms as servants. In the provinces, all the old abuses had 
returned — violence, outrage, plunder, robberies, the seizing of 
free men as slaves — and were practiced to such a degree as 
no man could have conceived of, had not the prosecution of 
Verres unveiled the merciless rule of the oligarchy in Sicily. 2 

3. The Increase of Luxury. — The great aim of the 
Eomans was the acquisition of vast wealth ; and by systematic 
plunder and rapine, immense riches were accumulated and 
squandered on brutal pleasures. At the public festivals, animal 

1 Mommsen, vol. iv., p. 3, 2 See p. 2§9. 



262 SCANDALOUS KULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. [B. C. 78. 

hunts and gladiatorial combats met with enthusiastic favor. 
Immense sums were squandered on funeral games. 1 At this 
time every man of the ruling oligarchy, the principes, or 
optimates, or honi viri? as they called themselves, thought it 
necessary to have a beautiful city house, adorned with fine gar- 
dens, ornamented within with statues, paintings, and a library, 
and a number of villas scattered over the most beautiful part of 
Italy. It was particularly at Bajae and the district around the 
bay of ISTaples, the Baden-Baden of the ancients, that this 
fashionable rural life found its centre. To give some idea of 
the extravagance and luxury of this period among the higher 
classes, 3 it is only necessary to mention that Lucullus had 
mountains and rock cut through for the purpose of conducting 
salt water to the tanks at his villa near Naples and Bajse, that 
he might be provided with marine fish at any time fresh for the 
table. When, therefore, Cicero and Atticus at one time came 
to supper with him, they found a meal prepared that cost one 
hundred and seventy thousand sesterces,* although Lucullus 
only had time to designate the room in which the meal should 
be served. 5 

4. The Insurrection of Lepidus. — The oligarchy, sunk 
in indolence and luxury, was too powerless to maintain its 
position. Accordingly Sulla was scarcely dead before the con- 

1 ^Emilius Lepidus ordered that not more than 1,000,000 asses ($20,000) should be ex- 
pended on his funeral. 

2 That is, the chiefs ; the best men ; the good men. 

3 The house of Crassus, with its fine garden and trees, was valued (b. c. 91) at 6,000,000 
sesterces ($300,000), an ordinary house was worth about one-tenth as much. The Misin- 
ian villa of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, cost 75,000 sesterces ($3,750), but L. Lu- 
cullus at this time paid thirty-three times as much for it. 4 $7,500. 

5 A villa with its land was sold for 40,000,000 sesterces ($2,000,000), on account of its 
fish-ponds. The plunder of Verres in Sicily is estimated at 40, 000,000 sesterces ($2,000,000). 
Caesar, when he departed to Spain as praetor, needed 25,000,000 sesterces to pay his debts ; 
in b. c. 50 he bribed the consul Paulus with 30,000.000 sesterces ($1,500,000) and Curio the 
tribune with 80,000,000 sesterces. A moderate senatorial fortune was 3,000,000 sesterces, an 
equestrian, 2,000,000. The property of P. Crassus, consul in b. c. 131, was estimated at 
100,000,000 sesterces ($5,000,000), and that of M. Crassus at 170,000,000 sesterces (,$3,500,000), 
although he had expended enormous sums in providing free corn for the people. We 
must, however, remember that these are exceptional cases, that the large mass of the 
people were far from being rich ; that many men, as Rothschild, Stewart, and others in 
modern times, have left at their deaths many times as much, after making clue allowance 
for the difference of value in gold. The expenses of the banquets consisted also largely 
in the decorations, presents to the guests, &c. 

Men like Lucullus, Caesar, Pompejus, Crassus and others were compelled to expend 
enormous sums for political purposes. It is said that Scaurus exhausted his fortune in 
this way. Crassus, although the richest man in the time of the republic, was not so rich 
as many f reedmen under the empire— Pallas Calistus and Narcissus, for instance.— Pliny. 
H. N. xxxiii., 131 






B. C. 79.] SCANDALOUS KULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. 263 



sul Lepidus attempted to rescind his laws; but the other 
consul, Catulus, was a firm friend of the oligarchy, and urged 
decisive measures. The senate adopted a temporizing policy, 
and in order to quiet the agitation in the capital, bribed the 
people with new distributions of corn, and when this did not 
satisfy, it thought that the disturbance would cease if the two 
consuls left Eome. The consuls w T ere accordingly sent to 
their provinces, 1 hound by an oath not to turn their arms 
against each other. Lepidus, however, interpreting the oath 
as binding only for his year of office, collected an army in 
Etruria and marched upon Eome. The senate recalled Catulus, 
and placed the city under his protection, and directed Pompejus 
to proceed against Lepidus' legate Marcus Brutus in Cis- 
alpine Gaul. Brutus was overpowered and killed at Mutina, 
and Catulus defeated Lepidus near the Campus Martin's. In 
his retreat Lepidus was met by Pompejus at Cosa in Etruria, 
and being unable to maintain his position, sailed with his army 
to Sardinia, where he soon after died. 

5. The War with Sertorius (b. c. 79-72).— In Spain 
the Marian party was more successful under Sertorius, who had 
the address to unite his cause with that of the national inde- 
pendence. He obtained such influence over the natives that 
he found no difficulty in raising a powerful army. He defeated 
several Eoman armies, and even Metellus Pius was unable to 
make head against him. In b. c. 78 he was reinforced by Pa- 
perna with a large army. This made his power so formidable 
that the senate feared an invasion of Italy. 

6. The Rise of Pompejus. — Pompejus took advantage 
of the situation to compel the senate to send him to Spain 
at the head of the army with which he had defeated Lepi- 
dus, to conduct the war against Sertorius. Pompejus was 
born in B.C. 106, in the same year as Cicero. As a young 
man he, like other noble Romans, took his first lessons in 
war in the tent of his father, Cn. Pompejus Strabo in the 

1 Mommsen (1. c. vol. iv., p. 25, note), relying on a fragment of Granius Licinianus, 
says that both consuls were sent to Etruria. This contradicts Appian (1. c. vol. L, 107) 
and Philippus (SulL Hist, i., 48 ; iv., 5 D). — See Peter, 1. c. vol. ii., p. 140, and Lange, 1. c, 
vol, iii., p. 174. 



264 SCANDALOUS RULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. [b. C. 73. 

Social war. When Sulla returned from Asia, he raised, as we 
have already seen, an army at his own expense, was present at 
the battle of the Colline gate, and afterwards drove the rem- 
nants of the Marian party out of Sicily and Africa. On his 
return the dictator greeted him with the surname of Magnus, 
and carried a law x allowing him to triumph, although he had 
been neither consul nor praetor (B.C. 80). In B.C. 79 Pompejus 
exerted his influence to secure the election of Lepidus to the 
consulship, in opposition to the wishes of Sulla. Sulla, in his 
retirement, contented himself with this warning : " Young man, 
it is time for you not to slumber, for you have strengthened 
your rival against yourself/' 2 In the war that followed, Pom- 
pejus did not deliberate which side he should take, but declared 
immediately against Lepidus. After the war was ended, as he 
was anxious for the command against Sertorius, he found 
various excuses for disobeying the order of the senate to dis- 
band his army. At length the senate was compelled to yield, 
and appointed Pompejus and Metellus Pius to the command 
in Spain. 

7. The End of the War in Spain. — At the close of the 
year b. c. 77, Pompejus set out for his province, marching over 
the Alps 3 and Pyrenees. At first he was defeated at Lauro and 
was afterward near being annihilated on the river Sucro {Xucar), 
when Metellus, after winning the battle of Italica (Saville), 
came to his assistance. The war continued without any decided 
success on either side until b. c. 72, when Sertorius was assas- 
sinated by Paperna, who hoped to succeed him in command. 
In the first collision with Pompejus his incompetency to suc- 
ceed a soldier and general like Sertorius was evident. His 
army was scattered to the winds and Paperna himself was taken 
prisoner. 

8. The War with the Gladiators (b. c. 73-71).— While 
the war was going on in Spain, the enemies of Eome rose 
everywhere. The proletarians could hardly be kept from insur- 
rection, brigands haunted every corner of Italy, and pirates 

1 Lex Cornelia de reditu On. Pompeii. t 2 Plut. Pomp., 15, 

3 Over Mt. Genevre ; ceo map, p. 136* 



B. C. 72.] SCANDALOUS RULE OF THE OLIGARCHY. 265 

swarmed on all the seas. The war in Macedonia against the 
mountain tribes in the north was far from being ended either 
by C. Claudius or Scribonius Curio. The pirates became so 
troublesome that it was found necessary to send P. Servilius 
Vatia to carry on the war against the Isaurians. In the East 
Lucullus had been sent to conduct the war against Mithridates, 
who had long and eagerly been watching the course of the revo- 
lution, had promised Sertorius ships and money' to wage war 
against Eome if in case of victory Asia should be restored to 
him, and now that the favorable moment had come, had invaded 
the Roman province. The contest of parties in the capital, 
however, was hushed for a time by the bursting out of the war 
with the gladiators. There was no army at hand. The war in 
Spain was not yet ended, and Lucullus had already departed to 
conduct the war against Mithridates (b. c. 74). The gladia- 
torial shows had for a long time held the first place at the pub- 
lic games. During late years, whole bands had been bought 
by speculators from the vast supply of prisoners, and trained by 
proper persons x in the gladiatorial schools 2 for.the arena. Rich 
men kept some of these to fight on public occasions to please 
the people, hired some on speculation to the aediles to fight at 
the public games, and sometimes to the party leaders, who 
let them loose like furious bloodhounds against the ojrposing 
faction. 

9. Victories of Spartacus. — In one of these schools 
at Capua there were a number of gladiators, most of whom 
were Celts and Thracians that, under Spartacus as a 
leader, escaped from the town and fled to the crater of Mt. 
Vesuvius. The slaves flocked to him from the slave-pens 3 in 
Campania, and he was soon at the head of an army of one 
hundred thousand men. A successful battle furnished the 
insurgents arms. The consuls of b. c. 72 were defeated, and 
the power of Spartacus grew daily more formidable. He, how- 
ever, never overrated, his own power nor hoped to conquer the 
Romans. He wished to cross the Alps and dismiss his troops, 
and let them return to their Celtic or Thracian homes. He 
1 Lanistce. * Ludi. 8 Ergqstulo,* 



266 SCANDALOUS EULE OF THE OLIGAKCHY. [B. C. 71. 

would have attained his object after defeating both consuls 
again, had not his followers, elated by success, refused to 
listen to his proposal. They preferred to traverse and plunder 
Italy. 

10. Crassus Defeats the Gladiators.— In b. c. 71 the 
praetor Crassus took the command. After restoring discipline 
in the army by decimating the soldiers, he posted himself in 
Pieenum, and drove the insurgents to the southern part of Italy. 
Here Spartacus happened to find a number of vessels belonging 
to the Cilician pirates. With these he resolved to escape to 
Sicily and rekindle the servile war there. Accordingly he entered 
into an agreement with the pirates, but they had no sooner 
taken his money than they broke their engagements and sailed 
away. All hope of escape in this quarter was taken away, and 
Spartacus intrenched himself at Ehegium. When Crassus came 
up, and attempted to hem him in by building an intrenched wall 
across the isthmus, Spartacus, in a dark, stormy night in win- 
ter, broke through the line and encamped in Lucania. Crassus 
overtook him on . the Silarus, and after a desperate battle in 
which Spartacus fought with the courage of a lion, and twelve 
thousand of his followers fell all with their wounds in front, 
gained the victory. 1 Before the battle, when they brought 
Spartacus his horse, he drew his sword and killed him, saying : 
"If I am victorious, I shall have horses enough; if I am 
defeated, I shall have no need of this." A body of five hundred 
of the insurgents escaped from the battle and were cut to pieces 
in Cisalpine Gaul by Pompejus as he was returning from Spain. 
On account of this Pompejus took to himself the credit of 
finishing the war, and wrote to the senate, "that Crassus had 
defeated the enemy in battle, but that he had cut up the war 
by its roots. 2 



1 After the dearly-bought victory (b. c. 71), the troops who had achieved it, and those 
of Pompejus that had meanwhile, after conquering the Sertorians, arrived from Spain, 
instituted throughout Apulia and Lucania a man-hunt, such as there had never been 
before, to crush out the last sparks of the mighty conflagration. Along the road 
from Capua to Home, the six thousand crosses bearing captured slaves, testified to the 
re-establishment of order, and to the renewed victory of acknowledged right over its 
living property that had rebelled.— Mommsen, vol iv., p. 88 f. 

- PJ\it, Crass,, 8-13. 



B. C. 70.] THE CONSULSHIP OF POMPEJUS AND CRASSUS. 267 



CHAPTER XH.I. 

The Consulship of Pompejus and Crassus (B. C. 70). 

1. Pompejus and the Popular Party. — Pompejus 
and Crassus now approached the city at the head of their 
armies, and claimed the consulship as the reward of their ser- 
vices. Neither of them was legally eligible, as Pompejus was 




POMPEJUS MAGNUS. 



only thirty-five years old and had never been quaestor, while 
Crassus was still praetor, and two years ought to elapse before 
be could be consul. In order to attain their end, they entered 
into a coalition with the popular party and promised them the 
restoration of the tribunitian power. Crassus, on account of 
his wealth had great influence among the capitalists, and both 
he and Pompejus, supported by the popular party, were elected 



268 THE CONSULSHIP OF POMPEJUS AND CEASSUS. [b. C. 70. 

consuls for the year b. o. 70, and after receiving permission 
from the people, 1 entered the city on the last day of December 
B.C. 71, Pompejus in triumph, while Crassus was entitled only 
to a lesser triumph, an ovation. 

2. Fall of the Oligarchy.— Pompejus, as soon as he 
entered upon his consulship, carried his promised law restoring 
the power of tribunes. 2 This struck away one of the chief 
foundations of the Sullan constitution. The other, the elec- 
tion of jurymen, Pompejus did not venture himself to attack, 
but hoped by a purification of the senate to relieve the courts 
of the distrust which the corruption of the jurymen had created. 
But before the censors who were elected for this purpose could 
enter upon their duty, the wanton outrages and cruelty of 
Verres, the governor of Sicily, who openly boasted that should 
he devote two-thirds of his plunder to bribe his powerful 
friends at Eome and the judges, he would still have enough 
left for his own desires, 3 aroused the indignation of the people 
against the courts. In order to understand how a provincial 
governor could so abuse his power, it is necessary to review 
briefly the manner in which the Eomans managed the provinces. 

3. The Administration in the Provinces. — In the 
provinces the Roman government had taken the place of the 
former rulers, and for many centuries it was so mild and 
equable, and the Roman governors performed their duties with 
so much honesty and frugality, that the change was felt to be 
a real gain. The Romans imposed taxes not to enrich them- 
selves, but simply to cover the cost of administration and 
defence. The governor himself served without pay ; and the 
state defrayed from the taxes collected the cost of main- 
taining the army, 4 and provided the governor with the means 
of transport and all other requisites. The provincials had to 
furnish free of cost a house for the governor, shelter for the 
army, wood, hay, and similar articles. If at any time the 
governor needed for the defence of the province, grain, ships, 

1 That is, they were exempt from the lex annalis and from the lex Cornelia de magis- 
tratibus ; see pp. 185, n. 4 : 257, § 2. 

2 Lex Pompeja Licinia de tribunicia potestate. 3 Oic. in Verr. accus., i., 14. 
* The provincials in the Roman armies were paid and equipped by their own state. 



b.c. 70.] cicero's prosecution of verres. 269 

slaves to man the ships, or aught else, he had the right to 
demand them from his province at a fair price. 

4. The Abuses in the Provinces. — At first this was 
managed with great justice, and the governor even restrained 
the cupidity of the Koman contractors who farmed the taxes. 
But gradually the Eoman rule relaxed, and it had already 
become a rare thing for a Eoman governor to return home from 
his province with clean hands. Soon it became the custom for 
the governor to determine the value of the supplies in a man- 
ner to suit his own interest, and to impose exactions whenever 
he pleased. Sulla compelled the provincials in Asia Minor to 
furnish every common soldier quartered among them f ortyfold 
pay. 1 Soon the governors were not satisfied with these exactions, 
but seized with cruel rapacity objects of art, as statues, pictures, 
marble columns, gold and silver gems, and whatever else pleased 
their fancy, from the houses and temples, and carried them off 
to Kome. In time this became so scandalous that courts were 
organized to punish the plundering official on his return to 
Eome. But unless the misgovernment had been glaring and 
infamous there was but little prospect of conviction, for the 
case came before judges and jurymen often involved in similar 
guilt and belonging to the same order as the accused. 

5. The .Scandalous Abuses of Verres. — In Cicero's 
orations 2 against Verres, the shameless rule of a provincial 
governor is pictured in graphic colors. For three years Verres 
had been governor of Sicily, and his career there furnished the 
most astounding proofs of the corruption of the governing 
class. His sole aim was to make money, and he was determined 
to rob enough to secure his acquittal. In fact, he boasted before 
leaving the province that he had not robbed for himself alone ; 
that he should be very well contented to retain one year's gain 
for himself; 3 that he had intended another for his advocates 
and defenders, and reserved the third, which was the richest, 
for his judges. 4 During these three years he disregarded the 

1 Per day 16 denarii = about 25 cents. 2 See Hist, of Lit., p. — . 

3 Cic. in Verr. accus., i., 14. 

4 All the cities in Sicily except Syracuse, the place of his residence, and Messana, the 
repository of his plunder, concurred in the impeachment. 



270 CICERO'S PROSECUTION OF YERRES. [B. C. 70. 

laws, sold his decisions, sold every office at his disposal to the 
highest bidder, exacted enormous contributions, and set at 
naught the religion, fortunes and lives of the subjects.. 

6. His Exactions. — His exactions 1 of grain were most 
ruinous. He issued an edict that the farmers should pay 
whatever the collector demanded ; but if he exacted 
more than his due, that he should be liable to a fine 
of eight times its value. Under this edict Verres's minions 
seized the whole crop of every town and compelled the owners 
to give whatever share of it they thought fit, or a com- 
position in money, or they plundered them of all their goods. 
When this grain was collected, Verres sold it and put the whole 
money into his own pocket, and bragged that he had got 
enough from this single article to screen him from justice. 
The result was that the poor husbandmen deserted their farms 
and refused to till the soil when Verres alone reaped the har- 
vest. 2 Verres had a taste for pictures, fine tapestry and statu- 
ary, and kept with him all the time a painter and a sculptor 
on whose judgment he relied in his choice of pictures and 
statues. Wherever he travelled through the island he plundered 
the temples, carried away the statues of the gods — the Juno of 
Samos, the Ceres of Enna, the Hercules of Agrigentum — and 
whatever else pleased his fancy. He employed his emissaries 
to hunt out everything that was curious or valuable in the 
island — pictures, tapestry, vases, trinkets, antiques, gems, orna- 
ments in gold or silver — all these he seized and sent away to 
Italy to adorn his villa. He robbed Antiochus, 3 the king of 
Syria, on his way through Sicily, of a magnificent candelabrum 
intended as an offering to Jupiter Oapitolinus, of goblets of 
gold, studded with precious jewels, and of a sacrificial ladle 
hollowed out from one single precious stone. When any vessel 
richly laden happened to arrive in the ports of Sicily, it was 
seized and the goods confiscated. Verres crowned his iniquities 
by imprisoning Eoman citizens, and finally by crucifying a 



1 Cicero estimated the damages of the Sicilians at $2,000,000.— Cicero Coec, i., 18. 

2 Of the 778 farms 445 were deserted, a Cic, m Verr, accus., iv., 28. 



B. C. 70.] THE AUKELIAK LAW. 271 

Eoman trader 1 in sight of the shores of Italy, in sight of its 
laws and liberty, that he might address to them the ineffectual 
cry: " I am a Koman citizen." 

7. Verres Brought to Trial. — To the rapacity of this 
provincial tyrant must be added the financial oppression exer- 
cised by the Italian merchants and brokers. As the farmers 
of the revenue showed no mercy in levying taxes, whole cities 
were sometimes compelled to pledge their revenues to the 
Eoman money-lenders, who often collected their dues by the 
severest processes. 2 Cicero painted in glowing colors the mis- 
management and robberies of the provincial governors. " There 
is no place," said he, " this side of the ocean so remote or retired 
where the caprice and oppression of the Romans have not 
entered." The mass of testimony was so overwhelming against 
Verres, that he went into voluntary exile before the trial was 
ended. Similar prosecutions were brought against other mem- 
bers of the aristocracy by popular leaders and orators who 
desired to imitate Cicero in winning the favor of the people, 
but they generally produced no result. The discontent of the 
people increased, and they openly demanded the restoration of 
the tribunitian power, and on account of the scandalous be- 
havior of the judges the transference of the judicature to the 
equestrian order. 

8. The Aurelian Law. — In answer to the demand of the 
people the praetor, L. Aurelius Cotta, carried a law 3 enacting 
that the jurymen should be selected equally from the senators, 
knights, and tribuni cerarii^ When these measures were car- 
ried Pompejus and Crassus in no way intermitted their efforts 
to win the popular favor. It had long been the custom for the 
censors, after discharging their duty, 5 to hold a lustrum, where 
it was usual for the Eoman knight to appear before the censors 
leading his horse, and, after giving an account of the generals 
under whom he had served his campaigns, and of his own 
exploits, to deliver up his horse. When Pompejus appeared 



1 Cic. in Verr. accus., v., 56. 2 See p. 225. 3 Lex Aurelia judicaria. 

4 The wealthiest class of citizens below the equestrian rank ; see also p. 58, n. 1, 

5 They purified the senate by expelling sixty-four members, 



272 POMPEJUS CLEAKS THE SEA OF PIRATES. [B. C. 70. 

leading his horse, decorated with the insignia of his office, and 
ordered his lictors to make room for him to advance to the 
tribunal, the people were struck with admiration. "Have 
you " —so the censor addressed him, amid the profound silence — 
"have you, Pompejus the Great, served all the campaigns re- 
quired by law ?" "Yes," said he, "I have served them all, 
and all under myself as general." This answer charmed the 
people, and there was no end of their acclamation. 1 

9. The Popularity of Pompejus and Crassus. — Pom- 
pejus retired from the consulship in great favor with the peo- 
ple, and without completely breaking with the aristocracy. 
He declined to accept a consular province, and declared that 
he only wished to live as a quiet citizen. The extraordinary 
liberality of Crassus — he dedicated a tenth of his colossal for- 
tune to Hercules, and spread a feast for the people on ten 
thousand tables and distributed corn enough to supply their 
families for three months — had won for him also the good will 
of the people, and his influence with the senate was unshaken. 



*e-^~e* 

chapter xi1.ii. 
Pompejus Clears the Sea of Pirates. 

1. The Wretched State of Roman Affairs.— The Eo- 

mans had let the navy which they had created during the wars 
with Carthage go to decay, and- had not even retained a suffi- 
cient number of vessels to protect their commerce on the 
Mediterranean. The measures taken against the pirates by M. 
Antonius, the celebrated orator, in B. o. 103, and in B.C. 78 by 
P. Servilius Vatia, 2 in a three years' Avar in Isauria, had pro- 
duced no permanent effect. During the Social, Mithridatic, 
and Civil wars the corsairs had become masters of the whole 

1 Plut, Pomp., 22, 2 Qn his return he triumphed as P. Servilius Yatia Isauriqus, 



B.C. 67.] POMPEJUS CLEAKS THE SEA OF PIRATES. 273 

Mediterranean, from the coast of Syria to the pillars of Her- 
cules. 1 

2. The Empire of the Pirates. — Even the coast of Italy 
was not safe from the incursions of the pirates ; they infested 
the great roads, plundered the villas on the coast, and even 
seized on the Appian Way and carried off two praetors with 
their lictors. Distinguished men, as Caesar and Claudius, were 
captured and compelled to pay large ransoms. They possessed 
a regularly organized government, and are said to have had 
more than one thousand ships and four hundred fortified 
places in their possession. They were refugees from many 
nations, and the seat of their power was in Cilicia. It was a 
vengeance and a reaction of the East, which had been devas- 
tated by the soldiers of Italy, by her usurers and publicans, 
and her slave-merchants. But the most contemptuous circum- 
stance of all was, that when the pirates had taken a prisoner, 
and he had cried that he was a Koman citizen and told his 
name, they pretended to be struck with terror, and fell upon 
their knees to ask his pardon. The poor man thought that they 
were in earnest, and said that he would forgive them. Some put 
on his shoes and others helped him on with his toga, that his 
rank might no longer be mistaken. When they had carried on 
this farce and enjoyed it for some time, they let a ladder down 
into the sea and bade him go in peace ; if he refused they 
pushed him from the deck and drowned him. 2 

3. The Gabinian Law. — The Romans found that their 
trade and navigation was cut off, and famine began to threaten 
the city. Just at this time news of the disasters which had 
overtaken Lucullus in the East 3 reached Rome. The price of 
corn rose enormously, and once more the course of events 
brought the power into the hands of Pompejus. For more 
than two years he had lived as a private citizen. He seldom 

1 All the enemies of the empire— Sertorius, Mithridates, and Spartacus, the proscribed 
Romans, the dispossessed Italians, insurgent provincials, men reduced to slavery— could 
all communicate by medium of the fugitives, who were spread on all the seas, and who 
infested them with their piracies. Liberty had erected against the tyranny of the Roman 
empire another empire on the water— a wandering Carthage, which no one knew where 
to seize, and which floated from Spain to Asia.— Michelet, p. 303. 

2 piut, Pomp., £4 " 3 See p. 2?9, 



274 POMPEJUS CLEAES THE SEA OF PIKATES. [B. C. 67. 

appeared in public, and when he did a great train of friends 
and attendants accompanied him. The tribune G-abinius car- 
ried a law for the recall of Lucullus, and proposed 1 that a gen- 
eral should be named by the senate from the consulars and 
invested with proconsul power to have command for three 
years over the whole Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent coasts 
for fifty Eoman miles inland. He was to have a staff of 
twenty-four legates, 2 five hundred ships, a military chest of six 
thousand talents, 3 and as many soldiers as he might require. 4 
Pompejus' name was not mentioned in the bill, but in the 
scarcity of great men all eyes were turned to him. When the 
tribune in due form brought the proposal before the senate for 
discussion, the indignation was so great that he was near being 
killed in the senate-chamber. When it came before the people 
it was received with great delight. 

4. The Law Carried (b. c. 67). — Gajus Julius Caesar, who 
was now the leader of the democratic party and had just re- 
turned from Spain as quaestor, warmly supported the measure. 
It was exactly in accordance with his ambitious plans to alien- 
ate Pompejus, whose relative he had married, from the senato- 
rial party and to weaken the republican organization. Catulus, 
and Hortentius the celebrated orator, spoke against the bill 
with great power and effect. When Catulus rose to speak the 
murmurs of the multitude, in reverence for the man, ceased. 
After bestowing due praise upon Pompejus, he advised the 
people not to expose him to so many dangers ; "for where will 
you find another," said he, "if you lose him?" They an- 
swered with one voice, " Yourself." When one of the consuls, 
Calpurnius Piso, attacked Pompejus and charged him with 
aiming at royal power, "If you emulate Eomulus you will 
not escape the end of Eomulus," 5 he was in danger of being 
torn to pieces by the populace. The law was passed, and on the 
same day the price of corn fell so much that the people said, 
"The very name of Pompejus has terminated the war." 6 

1 Lex Gdbinia de uno imperative contra proedones constUuendo.— Cic. Man. xvii., 52. 

3 As amended in the senate after its adoption by the people. 3 $7,000,000, 

* He raised 120,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry. 

5 According to a legend Romulus was torn to pieces by the senators. 

s Plut. Pomp. 25-27, 



B. C. 66.] POMPEJUS COKQUEHS THE EAST. 275 

5. War with the Pirates (b. c. 66). — In the execution of 
his task Pompejus more than fulfilled the popular expectation. 
He divided the whole Mediterranean Sea into thirteen parts, 
each under a legate who had charge of hunting the pirates out 
of their chief haunts, while he swept the western part of the 
Mediterranean with the main fleet. In forty days he cleared the 
sea west of Italy, opened communication with Sicily, Africa, and 
Sardinia, and re-established the supply of corn. He then pro- 
ceeded with sixty of his vessels from Brundisium to the original 
seat of piracy, the Cicilian waters. He destroyed the fleet 
of the pirates in a great battle, 1 hunted them in creeks, 
captured their castles, and took more than twenty thousand of 
them prisoners, many of whom he settled in the depopulated 
cities" of Cilicia, on the deserted lands in Achaja, and especially 
at Soli, 2 which henceforth was called Pompejopolis. This part 
of the campaign was finished in forty-nine days, but Pompejus 
remained during the rest of the year in the East settling the 
affairs of Cilicia and Pamphylia. 3 So rapid had been the sub- 
jugation of the pirates, that Cicero summed up the campaign 
by saying "that Pompejus had made his preparations for the 
war at the end of winter, began it at the commencement of 
spring, and finished it in the middle of summer." 4 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Pompejus Conquers the East (B. C. 74-61). 

1. Roman Power in the East— The war with Mithri- 
dates had been renewed by Murena, 5 whom Sulla had left as 
propraetor in Asia with the two legions of Fimbria. On the 

1 Off Carascesium. 2 Our word solecism comes from Soli. 

3 Crete, which next to Cilicia was the greatest resort of the pirates, had been assigned 
to Metellus as his province. Metellus had nearly subdued the island, when the Cretans, 
preferring to surrender to Pompejus, addressed themselves to him as suppliants, and 
invited him, since Crete lay within the limits of his command, to take possession of the 
island. Pompejus sent letters ordering Metellns to desist from the siege, and when he 
failed to obey, even sent troops to fight against him. Metellus, however, persevered, 
took the pirates, and put them to death. 

* Cic. Man. 12, 35. s See pp. 250 and 251. 



276 POM^EJtTS CONQUERS THE EAST. [b. C. 73. 

pretext that Mithridates was tardy in evacuating Cappadocia, 
Murena crossed the Halys and ravaged Cappadocia, where 
Mithridates met him with a large army and routed his forces 
in battle. Sulla interfered, renewed the peace, and ended what 
is sometimes called the Second Mitliridatic War (b. c. 83-82). 

2. Preparations of Mithridates. — After this the Romans 
took various measures to strengthen their power in the East. 
An expedition was sent against the pirates, and when ]STico- 
medes (in B. c. 75) died, and bequeathed his kingdom, consist- 
ing of Bithynia and Paphlagonia, to the Romans, they imme- 
diately took possession of it and made it a Roman province. 
About the same time Gyrene was converted into a province 
and a governor sent there. These measures excited the appre- 
hension of Mithridates, who had all the time been aware that 
the peace was only a suspension of hostilities, that the fire was 
not extinguished, it only slept in embers, 1 and hence had 
directed his efforts to strengthen his army and to prepare in 
every way for the final conflict. Aided by the Roman refugees 
and the officers whom Sertorius sent him, 2 he introduced the 
Roman arms and discipline. "When the Romans converted 
Bithynia into a province it seemed a favorable moment to 
strike. His army 3 was powerful and well disciplined. The 
pirates, who had created an empire on the sea, sent assistance, 
and Sertorius, with whom he had formed a treaty, seemed on 
the point of invading Italy from Spain. The king therefore 
took the initiative, and advanced, in b. c. 74, into Paphlagonia 
and Bithynia with his army, supported by a powerful fleet. 

3. Defeat of Mithridates (b. c. 73). — Of the two Roman 
consuls L. Licinius Lucullus and M. Aurelius Cotta who were 
selected for the conduct of the war, the latter was already in 
Asia, but on the approach of Mithridates retreated to Chalce- 
don, where he was defeated both by land and sea. Mithridates 
now proceeded to invest Cyzicus with his army and fleet, and, 
as in b. c. 88, hoped to make himself master of all Asia, where 
the outrage, violence, and extortion of the tax-gatherers and 

1 Hut. Lucull. 2 Lucius Magius and Lucius Fannius. 

3 His army consisted of 120,000 foot and 16,000 horse, and a fleet of 400 sail. 



B. C. 73.] POMPEJUS COKQTTEBS THE EAST. 277 

Boman merchants had produced the deepest discontent, before 
the Eomans could send sufficient force to oppose him. This 
place offered a stubborn resistance, and while Mithridates was 
detained here Lucullus advanced from Phrygia with only five 
legions to its relief. Early in b. c. 73 Mithridates was com- 
pelled to raise the siege, on account of the difficulty of supply- 
ing his army. In the retreat he was attacked by the Eomans 
between the iEsepus and Granicus, and defeated, while his fleet 
was destroyed, partly by the Eomans at Tenedos, and partly by 
a storm which overtook it on its return. The king arrived 
almost alone at his capital, Sinope, his army of nearly 200,000 
men having been annihilated. While Mithridates was collect- 
ing a fresh army, Lucullus sent his legate through Bithynia 
and Paphlagonia to Heraclea, to which Cotta had already laid 
siege with the fleet. 

4. Mithridates Retires to Armenia. — Lucullus himself 
entered Pontus, followed Mithridates, who had collected an 
army of over forty thousand men, from Sinope to Amisus, 
and from thence to Cabira on the Lycus. Mithridates drew 
Lucullus on farther and farther, until finally a superstitious 
dread came over his soldiers, and they murmured at their long 
and tedious marches. "You leave," said they, " the rich and 
flourishing city of Amisus, which might be easily taken, to 
drag us away to Chaldaea." 1 At Cabira the army of the king 
was again defeated, and the king himself would have been 
captured had the Eoman soldiers been able to restrain their 
eagerness for spoil. Despairing of successfully opposing the 
Eomans, Mithridates fled with a few attendants to Armenia to 
take refuge with Tigranes, his son-in-law. Lucullus sent Appius 
Claudius to Tigranes to demand the surrender of Mithridates, 
while he returned himself to besiege Amisus. Tigranes was 
at this time one of the most powerful monarchs in the East, 2 
but still he seemed inclined to avoid a contest with Eome. 
He granted his father-in-law a refuge, but refused to receive 
him at court until the arrogance of Lucullus' envoy drove 



1 Pint. Lucull. 

2 His empire embraced Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, apart of Cilicia, and Cappadocia. 



278 POMPEJUS CONQUEBS THE EAST. [b. C. 69. 

him to adopt a different policy. He not only refused to 
surrender Mithridates, but prepared for war. 

5. The Unpopularity of Lucullus. — Lucullus in the 
meantime had returned to the province of Asia to employ his 
time in restoring order and dispensing justice. Desolated and 
enslaved by the tax-gatherers and usurers, unspeakable misfor- 
tunes had overwhelmed the unhappy country. To satisfy their 
creditors, the inhabitants were forced to sell their children, 
their ornaments and offerings in the temple, their fine paint- 
ings and statues of the gods, and finally, when these failed, to 
serve their creditors as slaves. Lucullus relieved the people by 
regulating the rate of interest, abolishing that which exceeded 
the principal, 1 and compelled the creditors to leave a small 
proportion of the debtor's income for his support. The popu- 
lar orators and friends of the tax-collectors and merchants at 
Rome raised a storm of indignation against Lucullus, and their 
influence was felt in the action of the government. When the 
time came to open the next campaign, Lucullus' army of thirty 
thousand men was far from sufficient to conduct the war against 
the Armenian and Pontic kings. The government at Eome left 
Lucullus to manage the war as he could, without troubling itself 
about sending reinforcements. Lucullus was a strict disciplina- 
rian, and far from popular with his soldiers, whom he restrained 
from pillage, while appropriating a liberal share of the spoils 
for himself. 

6. The Battle of Tigranocerta (b. c. 69). — To undertake 
a war in a distant and unknown land with an army of only 
twelve thousand men — for this was all he could muster after 
protecting his communications with Pontus — and almost in di- 
rect opposition to the government at Eome, was far from wise. 
But still Lucullus, in the hopes of anticipating Tigranes, set out 
in B. c. 69 from Sinope, crossed the Euphrates at Melita, and 
advanced directly towards the capital, Tigranocerta, where he 
defeated the vast host of the Armenian king. 2 

7. Mithridates Returns to Pontus. — During the win- 

1 The fine which Sulla had imposed had been twice paid in interest, and yet by inter- 
est on interest still amounted to four times the original principal. 

2 Tigranes had an army of 150,000 foot and 55,000 horse. 



B. C. 68.] POMPEJUS CONQUERS THE EAST. 279 

ter Tigranes collected another formidable army, and as the last 
defeat had been exactly in accordance with what Mithridates 
had predicted, he committed the entire management of the war 
to him. The next spring (b. c. 68) Lucullus, in hopes of end- 
ing the war, crossed the Taurus and pressed forward to the 
high lands of Armenia, and gained a victory over the enemy's 
cavalry on the Arsanias. But long before he could reach 
Artaxata, the capital, the mutiny of his soldiers compelled him 
to retreat. He turned aside to Nisibis, the Mesopotamian capi- 
tal, captured the city by storm and took up his winter quarters 
there. In the meantime Mithridates had collected a large force, 
and penetrated into his own kingdom, defeated Lucullus' two 
lieutenants, Fannius and Triarius, one at Cabira, and the other 
at Ziela. When this news reached Lucullus, he hastened back 
to Pontus, but Mithridates avoided a battle, and withdrew to 
Lesser Armenia to await the approach of Tigranes. Lucullus, 
hoping to engage the Armenian king before he united his 
forces with Mithridates, hastened to seek him, but the soldiers 
rose in mutiny, and checked his farther advance. The Eomans 
were now exactly where they were in b. c. 75, Pontus and 
Cappadocia were overrun by Mithridates, and the results of 
eight years' warfare were lost. 

8. Insubordination in the Army.— The opposition to 
Lucullus in the capital had reached the soldiers. He was 
accused of protracting the war from the love of command and 
the wealth it procured him. The opposition in his camp was 
led by P. Clodius Pulcher, 1 whose sister Lucullus had married. 
He insinuated himself into favor with the Fimbrian troops, 2 
who had been in Asia ten years, and had continually demanded 
their discharge. 3 "Were they to wear out their lives in 
wandering over the world in wars and toils? Was there no 
other reward for them than to guard the wagons and camels of 
Lucullus, loaded with the spoils of war ? If they must forever 
wage war, let them reserve their swords for a general who 
thinks that the enriching of his soldiers is his greatest pleasure." 

1 The brother of A. Claudius, the envoy to Tigranes. 

2 See page 250. 3 Their twenty years military service had nearly expired. 



280 POMPEJUS COKQTJEES THE EAST. [b. C. 66. 

With such complaints Clodius stirred up the soldiers against 
Lucullus, and as, just at this time, news arrived that the people 
at Eome had granted a discharge to the soldiers whose term of 
service had expired, and that W Acilius Glabrio, 1 Lucullus' 
successor, had arrived in Asia, the Fimbrians rose in mutiny 
and deserted the standard. This was the condition of affairs 
when the ten commissioners arrived to settle the condition of 
Asia and reduce Pontus to a Eoman province. Glabrio was 
utterly incompetent for the difficult and hazardous task before 
him, and therefore never attempted to assume command. 

9. The Manilian Law (b. c. 66). — It was plain that the 
war must be undertaken again from the beginning, under a capa- 
ble leader. Who else could this be but Pompejus, who had just 
at this time won new laurels by quickly and successfully end- 
ing the war with the pirates? The tribune, G. Manilius, had 
lost favor with both parties by proposing to allow the freedmen 
to vote in all the tribes. He sought to regain it by moving a 
rogation to entrust Pompejus with the provinces of Asia, Bithy- 
nia, and Cilicia, with the sole charge of the war in the East, and 
with full authority to conclude peace and alliance. The opti- 
mates objected to this, as to the Gabinian law, because it 
had not first received the approval of the senate. Catulus 
and Hortentius opposed it vehemently, declaring it unconstitu- 
tional, and aptly characterizing the situation by saying 
that it was time for the optimates to secede to the Sacred 
Mount. It was supported by the moderate party of the 
optimates, by Caesar and particularly by Cicero, who, by 
his successful prosecution of Verres, and the manner in which 
he had discharged his duties while curule sedile, and the 
many times that his voice had been heard in defence of the 
oppressed, had raised his popularity to equal that of Crassus or 
Pompejus. He now brought in a masterly oration 2 which has 
been preserved to us, all the force of his eloquence to the 
support of Pompejus. The law was carried and Pompejus 
was invested with powers such as no one before him ever had. 

1 By the lex Gabinia. 2 Be imperio Gncei Pompeji. 



B. C. 66.] POMPEJUS COKQUEES THE EAST. 281 

10. Pompejus takes Command against Mithridates. 

— When Pompejus received the letters notifying him of his ap- 
pointment, he is said to have expressed his displeasure to his 
friends, and to have said that he was wearied by the weight 
of power. " Is there no end of my conflicts ? " exclaimed 
he. "How much better would it be to live and die as a 
quiet citizen in the enjoyment of domestic happiness ! " 
Even his friends were unable to bear the dissimulation of this 
speech, for they knew his unbounded ambition and love of 
power. 1 Immediately on receiving the news of his appoint- 
ment, Pompejus crossed from Cilicia and assumed command of 
Lucullus' army. 2 On his way he annulled the acts of Lucullus, 
and thus re-established the financial tyranny of the capitalists 
and tax-gatherers. One of his first acts was to form a treaty of 
friendship and alliance wifch Phraates, the Parthian king, 
whom he encouraged to make, incursions into the teiritory of 
Tigranes. This compelled Tigranes to look to the safety of his 
own frontier. 

11. Battle at Nicopolis (b. c. 66).— When Pompejus had 
completed his preparations, he set out to seek Mithridates in his 
own kingdom. Deserted by his ally Tigranes, Mithridates at 
first attempted to procure peace, but as Pompejus would hear of 
nothing but unqualified submission, he broke off the negotia- 
tions. The Pontic king retired slowly, followed by the Romans, 
until he was overtaken in a narrow pass on the Lycus, where 
the city of Nicopolis was afterward built, and most of his army 
cut to pieces. Mithridates himself escaped w ith a few horsemen ; 
but as Tigranes refused to receive him, there was no alternative 
left but to take refuge in his kingdom on the Cimmerian Bos- 
porus. 3 Pompejus gave up the pursuit and turned against 
Tigranes, whose son had already revolted and had entered 
into communication with the Eomans. As Pompejus ap- 
proached Artaxata, the king rode out to meet him and threw 
himself before him as a suppliant. Pompejus received him 

1 Plut. Pomp., 30. 

2 He met Lucullus in Galatia and allowed him to retain 1600 men for his triumph. 

3 See colored map. 



POMPEJUS CONQUERS TfitE EAST. [b. C. 65. 

kindly, restored to him his kingdom, except Syria, Phoenicia, 
Galatia, Cappadocia, and a part of Cilicia, which Lucullus had 
taken from him, on condition that he should pay six thousand 
talents. 1 His son was made king of Sophene. 

12. Pompejus Pursues Mithridates. — After settling 
the affairs of Armenia, Pompejus advanced northward as far as 
the river Cyrus (Kour) in pursuit of Mithridates, where he 
took up his winter quarters. Early the next spring (b. c. 65) 
he resumed his march through the mountains of Iberia and 
Albania, fighting his way at every step with the native tribes, as 
far as the river Phasis, which he followed down to its mouth, 
to meet the fleet which he had ordered to await him there. The 
difficulties of the pursuit, the constant contests with the native 
tribes, and the impossibility of crossing the Caucasus, which, 
in former times, had set an impassable bound to the Persian 
and Hellenic conquests, caused him to turn back to Pontus, 
where he passed the winter in organizing it as a Roman province. 
13. He Subdues Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine. — In 
the summer of b. c. 64, he departed for Syria, and without 
recognizing the claim of Antiochus, the former king, to the 
country, he took possession of it and constituted it as a Eoman 
province. After settling the condition of the country and 
regulating the Telation of the princes who were to remain inde- 
pendent, he pursued his march southward (b. c. 63), and 
annexed Phoenicia and Coele-Syria to the new Syrian province. 
In Palestine he met with a desperate resistance on account of 
the civil war that was raging between the two princes, Hyrcanus 
and Aristobulus. Both appealed to Pompejus, but he refused 
to decide between them until he reached Jerusalem. Aristobu- 
lus seemed at one time inclined to submit to Pompejus ; at 
another, he seemed on the point of taking arms and opposing the 
advance of the Eomans. He succeeded in capturing Jerusalem, 
but when Pompejus came up, the city, after a siege of three 
months, was compelled to surrender. Hyrcanus was restored 
without the royal title to the high-priesthood, under condition 
of paying an annual tribute to Rome. 

1 $7,000,000. 



B.C. 61.] POMPEJUS CONQUERS THE EAST. 283 

13. Death of Mithridates (b. c. 63). — In the meantime 
Mithridates had been making great preparations to renew the 
war with Rome. He even thought of invading Italy with an 
army of Scythians; but before he could carry this plan into 
execution his fate had been sealed by the revolt of his son 
Pharnaces, who had been proclaimed king at Panticapseum. 
The only escape of the old king from being delivered up to the 
Romans was suicide. He tried poison, but according to the 
popular account his frame was so inured to this, that he was 
obliged to call in the sword of one of his Gallic mercenaries. 
Thus perished in the year B. c. 63, after a reign of fifty-seven 
years, the giant monarch of the East, over whose death the Ro- 
mans rejoiced as if ten thousand of their enemies had been slain. 1 

14. Settlement of the East. — Pompejus entrusted iEmil- 
ius Scaurus, the son of the president of the senate, with the 
government of Syria, recognized Pharnaces as king of Bosporus, 
and then returned from Palestine to Pontus. After regulating 
the relations of the kings 2 and tetrarchs 3 on the east of the 
Euphrates and rewarding his army, he set out on his return 
to Rome by the way of Lesbus, Ephesus, Rhodes and Athens, 
where he arrived January 1, B. c. 61. 



♦ • ♦ •» 



chapter xliy. 

The Internal History During Pompejus' Absence. 

1. Condition of Italy. — After the departure of Pompejus 
to assume command of the army in the East, great confusion 
reigned at Rome. Every one expected a general insurrection. 
Liberty had perished long ago ; property was now thought to 

1 Plut. Pomp., 42. 2 He founded or peopled 39 cities. 

3 The new provinces were that of Cilicia, which, enlarged by Pamphylia and Isauria, 
was reorganized ; that of Pontus to which Bithynia was united ; that of Syria, and that 
of Crete. Dejotarus still occupied as a vassal the throne of Galatia ; Ariobarzanes 
ruled in Cappadocia, which was enlarged by Lesser Armenia; and Attalus ruled in 
Papal agonia. 



284 CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. [B. C. 66. 

be in clanger. The old soldiers of Sulla had squandered their 
possessions and only waited the signal for civil war. The lands 
in Italy had once more been converted into pasturage; Etruria, 
which had long escaped the scourge of the Roman speculator, 
had in late years suffered this cruel transformation. In every 
part of Italy wandered bands of proletarians — the dispossessed 
land-holders, the soldiers of Sulla, the impoverished Italians, 
the ambitious and ruined Eoman nobles — all waiting for an 
opportunity to restore their own fortunes, even if it cost the 
ruin of the state. The equestrian party, disarmed by the 
absence of their general, had nothing to oppose to the storm 
that menaced the state. The senate, weak and powerless, 
carried on a desultory warfare against the varied elements of 
opposition. 

2. The Contest of Parties. — The tribunes renewed their 
attacks with all their old fierceness. The nobility replied with 
all the means at their disposal. They impeached tribunes after 
the expiration of their term of office ; the consuls, as presiding 
officers in the comitia, prevented the election of dangerous 
candidates by refusing to announce the election ; the senate 
even ventured to annul certain laws. There was, as Catiline 
said, two states in Rome, the nobility, weak and powerless, yet 
proud and arrogant as ever, and the people, rising into power, 
but destitute of a leader, without plan or purpose and swayed by 
the most diverse impulses. Laws were carried to check the 
corruption of the senate by forbidding loans from foreign 
ambassadors ; the penalties were strengthened against bribery 
at elections; and finally the right of the senate to grant dis- 
pensation in certain cases from the laws 1 was restricted. 2 This 
was merely an aimless agitation. Parties at Eome were watching 
the movements of Pompejus, and waiting with anxiety or dread 
the return of the victorious general. The democrats hoped before 

1 Rogatio, ne quis nisi per populum legibus solveretur : the law was amended and 
passed. Ne quis in senatu legibus solveretur, nisi CCaffuissent; neve quis, cum solutus 
esset, inter cederet, cum ale ea re ad populum ferretur. 

2 The influence of the equestrian order was manifested in the law carried by the 
tribune Eoscius Otho, which gave to the equites the fourteen rows of seats in the 
orchestra next to the senators, 



B. C. 65.] CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. 285 

the decisive day came, to strengthen their power, and perhaps 
gain control of the government. In that case they could 
entrust one of their leaders with an extraordinary command, 
and find in him a counterpoise to the power of Pompejus. It 
was for this object that they unveiled the scandalous rule of 
the senate, and proposed laws to overthrow its power. 

3. The History of Catiline. — In the meantime an insur- 
rection, instigated by one of the most daring profligates, had 
nearly subverted the government. The condition of society 
furnished ample materials for such an effort. There were too 
many who sighed for the times of Cinna, with its proscriptions 
and cancelling of debtors' claims. They only waited for a 
leader to fall upon society like a gang of robbers. That leader 
was found in L. Sergius Catilina, who possessed all the 
qualities necessary to make him a great man in such a time. 
He was descended from a patrician family, 1 and was a man of 
great courage and gigantic strength of mind and body. He 
had proved his courage in the wars of Marius and Sulla. His 
ferocity was displayed in hunting down and killing the pro- 
scribed. He is said to have killed his brother-in-law with his 
own hands. These crimes, however, did not prevent his pro- 
motion. He was elected praetor for b. c. 68, and obtained Africa 
the following year as his province. Here he spent two years 
in the practice, it is said, of every crime imputed to the pro- 
vincial governors of that period. He returned in b. c. 66, to 
sue for the consulship. A charge of extortion was raised 
against him which disqualified him to appear as a candidate. 2 

4. First Conspiracy of Catiline (b. c. 65). — Stung by 
disappointment 3 he determined to get possession of the- gov- 
ernment by force. All the needy Eomans, the dispossessed 
Italians, all who were lost in misery and crime, flocked to 
Catiline. He entered into a conspiracy with Autronius Paetus, 

1 Sallust Cat. c. 5. 

2 The consul Volcatius Tullus, who presided at the comitia, refused to receive votes 
for him. 

3 P. Autronius Paetus and P. Cornelius Sulla were declared elected, but they were set 
aside on account of bribery, and L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus were 
elected in their place. A law was carried at this time (lex Fabia de numero sectatorum) 
to limit the number in the retinue of the candidates, 



286 CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. [b. C. 63. 

the late rejected consul, and Cn. Calpurnius Piso, a profligate 
young noble, to murder the new consuls on the first day of 
their office, and seize the government. The plot, however, 
became known and it was postponed until the ides of February ; 
on this day it failed also, because Catiline gave the signal before 
a sufficient number of the conspirators had assembled. Catiline 
plunged still deeper into crime. His guilty mind, at peace with 
neither gods nor men, found no rest by night nor day. His 
countenance was pale and disquieted, his eyes haggard, his step 
sometimes quick, sometimes slow ; and distraction was written 
in every feature and look, so effectually did conscience desolate 
his tortured mind. 

5. Catiline Matures His Plot. — The government took 
no active measures to crush the conspiracy. When the trial for 
extortion came on, Catiline was acquitted through the influence 
of the consul, L. Manlius Torquatus, 1 and by means of the most 
shameless bribery of the judges. From this time he arranged 
his plans more systematically, and enlisted a numerous body of 
adherents, among whom were the senators G-. Lentulus Sura 
and G. Cornelius Cethegus. In the summer of b. c. 64 he sum- 
moned his followers, all who w r ere ruined in fortune or lost in 
misery and crime, all the depraved and audacious, to a noc- 
turnal meeting. After comparing their own degraded and 
infamous life with that of the favored few who were in posses- 
sion of the government and of all the wealth, he promised his 
confederates, as consul, abolition of debts, 2 new proscriptions, 
and, finally, all the license and gratification which war and 
plunder bring. Some say that at this meeting the conspirators 
confirmed their oaths by drinking blood mixed with wine. 3 

6. The Second Conspiracy. — When the time for the 
consular elections of B. c. 63 approached, the conspirators set up 
as candidates Catiline and G-. Antonius, a plebeian noble, a man 
without character and ruined in fortune. Meanwhile rumors 
concerning the conspiracy got abroad among the people, while 
more accurate and definite information was obtained from 

1 Cic, Sull, 39, 3 Tabulae novce. * Sail. Cat, 20 ff , 



B. C. 106.] CICEKO'S EARLY LIFE. 287 

Fulvia, the mistress of Q. Curius, one of Catiline's intimate 
associates. Catiline, it was said, intended to murder the sena- 
tors, and to set fire to the four corners of the city. The public 
terror compelled the senators to overcome their scruples against 
"new men" 1 and cast their votes and influence for Marcus 
Tullius Cicero, who, supported by the nobility, the friends of 
Pompejus, and the large number of persons in the capital and 
country towns to whom he was favorably known, on account of 
his services as an advocate, was elected instead of Catiline, with 
G. Antonius as his colleague. Cicero detached Antonius from 
the conspiracy by voluntarily resigning to him the lucrative 
province of Macedonia, which had fallen to himself by lot. 
While the intrigues of Catiline are ripening, we must turn to 
trace the career of Cicero, because it is so intimately connected 
with this period of our history. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

The Consulship of M. Tullius Cicero (B. 0. 63). 

1. His Birth and Education. — Cicero 2 had now attained 
the summit of his ambition ; he was consul at Rome. Through 
him the senate had triumphed once more, and this was wholly 
due to Cicero's great popularity and splendid oratorical powers. 
As Cicero now steps on the stage on which he is to act a promi- 

1 Since the time of G. Marius only two new men (homines novi), T. Didius, b. c. 98, 
and G. Caelius, 94, had attained to the consulship. 

3 genealogical table. 

Marcus Tullius Cicero. 



M. T. Cicero m. (1) Terentia. 

(2) PUBLILIA. QUTNTUS ClCERO m. POMPONIA. 



Tullia m. (1) Piso Frugi. J 

(2) Crassipes. Marcus. J 

(3) dola bella., q. t. clcero. 

Lentulus, 



288 



CICEKO'S EARLY LIFE. 



[B. C. 106. 



nent part, it is necessary to preface the history of his consulship 
with a short account of his life. He was born among the Vol- 
scian hills at Arpinum, from a plebeian family, on the third of 
January in the year b. c. 106. Quintus, his brother, was four years 
younger. Both brothers gave such early promise of great ability 
that their father sent them to Kome, that they might have all 
the opportunities for an education which the capital could afford. 
Crassus, the great orator, superintended their education; and 
their first and chief instructor was the poet Archias, in whose 




Marcus Tullius Cicero. 1 



defence Cicero afterwards pronounced that oration which so 
nobly defends the liberal studies. From the time he had 
assumed the toga virilis 2 he lost no opportunity of hearing 
the great orators in the forum, and he was in constant attend- 
ance on the greatest master of jurisprudence, Mucins Scasvola, 
the great lawyer and president of the senate, and also eagerly 
watched the gestures of iEsopus and Koscius, the great actors. 

1 From a bronze medal struck by the town of Magnesia, in Lydia. 

2 It was customary for a Roman youth, when about 16 years of age, to appear before 
the praetor in the forum and lay aside the toga prcetexta, the dress of boys, and assume 
the toga pura or virilis, which indicated that he had reached the age when he might 
engage in the active business of life ; see p. 404, 



B. C. 81.] CICEKO'S APPEAEANCE AT THE BAR. 289 

At the age of nineteen he served his first campaign 1 in the 
Social war, under Pompejus Strabo. 

3. His First Appearance at the Bar. — In the troubled 
times that followed, during the coalition between Marius and 
Cinna, Cicero not only devoted himself with energy and zeal to 
the study of law, but also became acquainted with the principles 
of the three great schools of Grecian philosophy, from their most 
eminent leaders who were then at Rome: Pheedrus the Epicu- 
rean, Diodorus the Stoic, and Philo the chief of the JSTew 
Academy. By constant practice in declamation, by thorough 
study of Eoman jurisprudence, added to his love for Greek 
literature and philosophy, he sought, with indefatigable zeal, 
to lay the foundation for his future success as a lawyer and 
orator. When quieter times returned he undertook, at the 
age of twenty-six (b. c. 81), his first case, a civil suit for P. 
Quintius. His first appearance at a criminal trial was the 
next year, in defence of Sextius Eoscius, of Ameria, accused 
of parricide by Chrysogonus, one of Sulla's freedmen, who was 
himself implicated in the murder. 3 Cicero's courage in under- 
taking this case against the favorite freedman of Sulla was 
applauded by the whole city, and secured him the reputation of 
a fearless and zealous advocate. 

4. Student at Athens. — After this he took a journey to 
Greece, not, as Plutarch asserts, from fear of Sulla, for his 
defence of Eoscius is proof against that, but in order to perfect 
himself in his art and to strengthen his constitution. He 
devoted himself with renewed zeal and energy at Athens, then 
the great university of the world, to the study of philosophy 
under the most eminent teachers, in company with his brother, 
and cousin Titus Pomponius, whom the civil discords at Eome 
had caused to retire to his estate 4 in Epirus, that he might, 
unhindered, devote himself there and at Athens to those 



1 Tirocinium. 

a Causa privata : these were tried either before the praetor or before the centumviral 
court. 

3 It was a Causa publica to be tried in the court for murder (qucestio inter secarios), 
before the praetor M. Fannius, established by the lex Cornelia cfy seQQrtk ti venefici§ t 
The jurymen were selected from the senators. See p. 258, 

4 Plut. Cic, 3. 5 Near Buthrotum. 



290 CICERO IMPEACHES VERRES. [B. C. 75. 

literary pursuits in which, his proficiency gained for him the 
surname of Atticus. It was to this intimacy that we owe those 
letters 1 so charming and interesting in style, which Cicero 
addressed to his friend Atticus, and which, in regard to their 
record of contemporary events, Nepos says that he who reads 
them will hardly require a regular history of these times. 2 After 
studying for six months at Athens under Antiochus, the most 
eminent teacher of the old Academy, and at the same time prac- 
ticing oratory under Syrius, he repaired to Asia Minor, to hear 
the famous rhetoricians 3 in the chief Greek cities. After two 
years of study and travel he returned to Eome, completely 
changed, physically as well as mentally, and prepared to devote 
himself to the duties of an advocate, for which the state of 
society furnished ample opportunity. At this time Cotta and 
Hortensius were the great orators and undisputed leaders of 
the bar at Eome. Cicero delivered several orations, one of 
which — his defence of Eoscius the comedian, from whom he 
had taken lessons — is still extant. 

5. Impeachment of Verres. — In the year b. c. 75 Cicero 
was elected quaestor. Lot assigned to him Lilybseum {Marsala), 
one of the two provinces into which Sicily was divided. His 
equable administration, his upright and honorable conduct- 
qualities in those days very rare in a Eoman official — won for 
him the favor of the Sicilians, and laid the foundation for that 
great forensic success which he achieved five years after, when 
his popularity had raised him to the curule sedileship. Shortly 
after his return an opportunity occurred for him to undertake 
a case which attracted the eyes of all classes to him. Sulla had 
restored to the senate the judicial power which assured the 
nobility impunity in their provincial administration. The 
plunder, robbery and desolation of the provinces would hardly 
be believed, had not the prosecution of Verres brought them to 
light. During his administration of three years Verres had 

1 There were only eleven letters written before Cicero's consulship. The first one was 
written b. c. 68. 

2 Nepos Att., 16. 

3 Menippus of Stratonice, Dionysius at Magnesia, J3schylus at Cnidus, Molo and Posi- 
domus at Ixodes, 



B. C. 63.] CICERO'S POLITICAL CONSISTENCY. 291 

desolated the island of Sicily more than both Servile wars. As 
soon as he left the island the provincials determined to bring 
him to justice, 1 and applied to Cicero to conduct the prosecu- 
tion. Verres had noble friends at Kome — the Metelli, the Scipios, 
and Hortentius, the master of the forum, who undertook his 
defence. Bribes, threats, devices for delay 2 were devised, but 
all were of no avail. The jurors condemned Verres, and the 
eloquent invectives which Cicero had prepared, although not 
delivered, were published and circulated, and read with great 
avidity. 

6. Cicero's Political Consistency. — Cicero was now the 
undisputed leader in his profession. In b. c. 66 he was elected 
prsetor, 3 and earnestly co-operated in the popular movement that 
invested Pompejus with the extraordinary command in the East. 
The action which Cicero had taken in the condemnation of 
Verres, which was really that of the nobility, and his ardent 
support of the Manilian law, have generally been considered 
sufficient evidence that he had deserted the senatorial and 
joined the popular party. It must be remembered that Cicero 
had grown up under the instructions of such great statesmen 
as Crassus and the Scsevolas, whose aim had been to conciliate 
the people and restore the good old time when unity prevailed 
in the state. There was still a strong conservative party in the 
senate that wished to restore that time; with this party Cicero 
acted, and hence his sympathy with Pompejus, who still counted 
himself a member of the conservative party, and hence the sup- 
port of the senate, which raised him to the consulship. 

7. Cicero as Consul. — On the 1st of January, b. c. 63, 
Cicero entered upon his duties as consul, and one of his first 

1 The trial was in the permanent jury court for exactions (qucestio perpetua de 
repetundis), before the praetor IVTAciliu's Glabrio. See p. 258. 

2 An attempt was made to take the case out of Cicero's hands by setting up a sham 
prosecutor in Q. Caecilius Niger, Verres's quaestor. A preliminary trial (divenatio) was 
necessary to decide whether he or Cicero should be the accuser. The oration that Cicero 
delivered on this occasion is also called divenatio. Cicero was allowed 115 days to col- 
lect evidence in Sicily; he returned in 50, contenting himself with a brief outline of the 
case. Cicero called the witnesses at once ; their testimony was overwhelming. Hor- 
tentius gave up the case, and Verres went into exile. The following is a list of the 
orations: I. (1) Divenatio in Coecilium ; (2) actio prima in Verrem ; II. Actio secunda ; 
(3) deprcetura urbana ; (4) de judiis sive de praitura asiciliensi; (5) oratio frumentaria ; 
(6) de signis ; (7) de suppliciis. 

3 Cicero presided in this court (quazstio perpetuq, repetundarum). 



292 THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICERO. [B. C. 63. 

acts was to oppose and defeat the agrarian law of the tribune 
Servilius Rullus, which was the most sweeping measure that 
had yet been proposed for dividing the public land, and which 
was intended, no doubt, to give one of the popular leaders an 
extraordinary command, like that of Pompejus. 1 

8. Defence of Rabirius. — The next opportunity that 
Cicero had to display his abilities was when Caesar induced the 
tribune Labienus to accuse an aged senator, Rabirius, of the 
murder 2 of Saturn inus, a popular leader in the tumult in the year 
b. c. 100. 3 This was an attack upon the prerogatives of the sen- 
ate — their right to invest the consul with supreme power. If 
Rabirius was condemned, the people then had the right to nul- 
lify the action of the senate, and no tribune need in future fear 
the fate of Saturninus. Cicero no doubt looked forward to the 
day when he should need a similar decree against Catiline, and 
therefore defended Rabirius with all his energy and power. 4 In 
the meantime Cicero had defeated another scheme — the repeal 
of the law of Roscius Otho, which gave to the equites and all those 
. who possessed the equestrian census the fourteen rows of seats 
in the orchestra, behind the senators — proposed by Caesar, to 
still further widen the breach between the senatorial and eques- 
trian parties. When Otho entered the theatre he was received 
with a storm of hisses from the people; the knights applauded; a 
fearful riot ensued, and Cicero was summoned. He invited the 
people to meet in the temple of Bellona, and addressed them in 
such a manner that he completely restored their good humor.s 
When Caesar, shortly after, proposed that civil rights should 
be restored to those who had been proscribed by Sulla — a 
measure eminently just in itself, but not considered at this 
time expedient, the eloquence of Cicero persuaded 6 the tribunes 



1 (1) Oratio in senatu Kal. Jan. de lege agraria ; (2) ad Quirites Contra P. Bullum. 

3 See p. 229. 

3 Eeus perduellionis (i. e., accused of high-treason). 

* The trial came first before the Duumviri, G. Caesar and the consular L. Caesar. 
Rabirius was convicted and appealed to the people. It is uncertain what the result was. 
Dio Cassius relates that Rabirius would have been condemned had not Metellus Celer, 
during the voting, lowered the flag which always waved upon the Janiculus. This broke 
up thecomitia. See p. 40. 

s Pro Roscio Othone has been lost. 

6 J)e proscriptornm Jlliis also lost. 



B. C. 63.] THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICERO. 293 

to abandon the measure before it came before the senate. Caesar 
saw that the revolution was not ripe, and waited in silence. 

9. Catiline Prepares fdr War. — These skirmishes were, 
however, merely preliminary to the great contest with Catiline 
which was approaching. Catiline, while waiting for the consular 
elections for the next year, at which he himself was to be a 
candidate, was secretly laying his plans for civil war, and had 
selected Fsesulse as his headquarters. Cicero contented himself 
with keeping a constant watch on the progress of the conspiracy, 
as he received accurate information from Fulvia and Curius. 
The time for holding the comitia was postponed, on account of 
fear of Catiline, and the laws against bribery at elections were 
strengthened. 1 In the meantime Cicero received definite infor- 
mation in regard to the plans of the conspirators, 2 and assem- 
bled the senators on the 21st of September and laid before them 
an account of the conspiracy, how imminent the danger was, that 
arms were collected, preparations completed, and the day fixed 
for the rising. Catiline himself was present and engaged in the 
debate ; and believing that there were many in the senate who 
wanted a change, he boldly avowed his design, and added to 
his expression in regard to the senate without power and the 
people without a head, 3 that he would be the head that was 
wanting. A few days before he had said to Cato, 4 who threat- 
ened him with a prosecution, that if a fire were kindled against 
him he would extinguish it, not with water, but by the general 
ruin. The election w r as held soon after, 5 and Cicero, in a breast- 
plate of glittering steel under his toga and with a body of armed 
attendants, went to the Campus Martius. Junius Silvanus and 
Licinius Murena were elected consuls. 

10. The Consuls Invested with Dictatorial Powers. — 
This repulse made Catiline furious. He planned the destruc- 
tion of the city, the murder of the consuls, and as the 
preparations of Gr. Manlius at Fsesulae were completed, the 

1 Lex Tullia de amUiu threatened punishment against the divisores (the ward-dis- 
tributors of bribes to voters); forbade a candidate to give gladiatorial shows for two years 
before election, &c. 

2 See Suet. Aug., 94; Lange 1. c. vol. iii., p. 247. s See p. 284. 

* Cic, p. Mur. 25. 6 At the beginning of Oct, 



294 THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICERO. [B. C. 63. 

28th 1 of October was set for the insurrection. Cicero, informed 
of all his plans, summoned the senate October 21st, which was 
now thoroughly alarmed, and invested the consuls with 
dictatorial power. 2 In the meantime, letters from Fsesulse 
said that Manlius had collected a formidable army, and that an 
insurrection was threatened in Capua and Apulia. By good 
fortune the two proconsuls, Marcius Kex and Metellus Creticus, 
were waiting at the gates for the triumph which they de- 
manded. The senate sent the former to Faesulae, and Metel- 
lus was ordered to proceed against the insurgents in Apulia. 
The gladiators were removed from Capua and rewards were 
proclaimed for information concerning the conspiracy. In 
Eome, citizens were enrolled, guards posted at the gates, and 
watches patrolled the streets. 

11. The First Catilinian Oration. — At this juncture, 
Catiline called a meeting 3 of the conspirators at the house of 
M. Porcius Laeca, and told them that he was ready to depart 
to the army if Cicero was first disposed of. A knight, GL 
Cornelius, and a senator, L. Varguntejus, undertook to assas- 
sinate the consul in his own house the next morning. A 
timely warning caused Cicero to close his doors to visitors, 
and on the same day he summoned the senate in the 
temple of Jupiter Stator. 4 Catiline was present, but his 
fellow-senators shrank from him, and left the benches vacant 
where he sat. Then Cicero arose and poured forth the first of 
the four celebrated Catilinian orations, which begins with the 
well-known words : " How long, Catiline, will you abuse our 
patience ? " He showed him that he knew what he had done, 
what he intended, that he was informed of all his plans, and 
called upon him to relieve the city of his hated presence, and 
to take his companions in crime with him. Catiline, with 



1 The second day of the ludi Victoria*, Suttance, a day on which the comitia could not 
be held ; it could not, therefore, have been postponed until this day, as is usually sup- 
posed to have been the case. 

2 Videant consults ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat. 

3 The conspirators assembled on the ides of November, and the murder of Cicero 
was to take place on the next day, the 6th of November ; but as the assembly broke up 
too late for that, it was deferred until the morning of the 7th. 

* For position of this temple see colored map No, 2, 



B. C. 63.] THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICERO. 295 

downcast eyes and faltering voice, begged the senate not to 
judge him harshly, nor to think that he, a patrician, would 
attempt to ruin the republic that a man like Cicero, sprung 
from the dregs of the people, might save it. Here his voice 
was drowned with the cry, "Traitor I" " Parricide!" He 
rushed from the senate chamber, and after conferring with 
the leaders of the conspiracy and assuring them that he 
would soon return with an army, he left that city at nightfall, 
accompanied by a few associates, and hastened to the camp of 
Manlius. He left instructions for Lentulus and Cethegus and 
others in the city not to quit their posts, but to take measures 
to assassinate the consul and to prepare for an outbreak as 
soon as he should appear with an army. 

12. The Conspirators Betrayed and Arrested. — On 
the next day, November 8, Cicero addressed the second Catilin- 
ian oration to the people in the forum. He defended himself 
from the charge of acting harshly against Catiline, as if he had 
driven him into banishment, prophesied that Catiline would put 
himself at the head of the army in Etruria, and finally 
declared that the consul and senate were prepared to crush his 
nefarious schemes. The senate declared Catiline and Manlius 
public enemies, and ordered Antonius to proceed against them 
with an army, while Cicero remained to guard the city. No 
steps were taken against the conspirators who remained in the 
city, from lack of sufficient legal proof to convict them. This, 
however, their own imprudence furnished. They ventured to 
tamper with the envoys of the Allobroges, who had come 
from Gaul to petition the senate against the tyranny of the 
Eoman governors. The envoys had met with no success, and 
were returning home in ill-humor at their reception. The 
adherents of Catiline thought it a favorable time to kindle the 
flames of civil war in Gaul and to create a diversion there in 
their favor. The Allobroges, however, revealed the plot to 
their patron, 1 Q. Fabius Sanga, who communicated it to Cicero. 
At Cicero's directions the envoys feigned great zeal in the 

"Whole communities were often clients of some distinguished m^n, 



296 THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICEKO. [B. C. 63. 

undertaking and obtained letters from the chief conspirators 
as credentials to their nation. As the envoys were leaving 
Kome by the Mulvian bridge x they were arrested by persons 
who had been stationed there in ambush for that purpose and 
taken to Cicero's house. The next morning Cicero sent for the 
chief conspirators. Ignorant of what had happened, they came 
and were immediately arrested and led before the senate. The 
letters were opened; the conspirators acknowledged their guilt. 
Lentulus was compelled to resign the praetorship, and was 
delivered with four of his associates to the custody of certain 
senators, who were made answerable for their appearance. 

13. Effort to Implicate Crassus. — Cicero related these 
events to the people the same evening, December 3d, in the 
third Catilinian oration. He urged them to return thanks with 
the senate to Jupiter Capitolinus, whose statue by a singular 
coincidence had been erected in the capitol that morning, and 
looking down upon his people in the forum, had granted 
them favor and protection. An effort was made to implicate 
Crassus as well as Caesar in the conspiracy, in the hope that 
either their great influence with the senate would screen the 
culprits from justice or if they defended the conspirators they 
would criminate themselves. The senators refused unani- 
mously to believe the insinuations, and decreed that the 
informer should be imprisoned until he disclosed the name 
of the person who had instigated him to give such evidence. 

14. The Conspirators Condemned by the Senate. — 
On the 5th day of December, Cicero convened the senate to 
decide on the fate of the conspirators. The question was one 
of great difficulty. The senate had invested the consuls with 
dictatorial power, but this the people maintained did not give 
them authority to inflict capital punishment. So far Cicero 
had proceeded strictly according to the forms of law. The 
conspirators had been declared public enemies in order that 
they might be deprived of citizenship. He now brought the 
matter before the senate, and, according to the usual custom, 

1 Ponte Molls, 



B. C. 63.] THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICERO. 297 

called on Silanus, the consul-elect, for his opinion first. Sila- 
nus declared that the conspirators should suffer the extreme 
penalty of the law, and all the consulars agreed with him. 
When the turn came to Caesar, who was praetor-elect, he recom- 
mended that their goods be confiscated and that they be 
imprisoned for life in different Italian cities. With this opin- 
ion, Quintus, Cicero's brother, agreed, and a large number of 
senators, from fear of the people, inclined to the same opinion. 
Even Silanus retracted and explained his opinion by declaring 
that imprisonment was the extreme penalty that a citizen could 
suffer at Rome. When the turn came to Marcus Portius Cato, 
he rose and in tones of deep conviction and unflinching courage 
demanded the execution of the criminals ; he attacked Caesar and 
charged him with attempting to rescue from justice the enemies 
of the state. This decided the question. Cicero in the fourth 
Catilinian oration 1 summed up the arguments on both sides, 
and called upon the senators to have no regard for his personal 
safety ; that whatever happened to himself he cared not, he 
would execute the decree of the senate whatever it might be. 
15. The Execution of the Conspirators. —The senate 
voted for the death of the conspirators. The charge raised 
against Caesar by Piso and Catulus had been industriously 
circulated, and the knights who guarded the doors of the 
temple of Concord, where the senate sat, and were impa- 
tiently awaiting the result, threatened Caesar with their swords 
as he came out. Cicero took care to have the sentence exe- 
cuted at once. Lentulus with four others 2 were strangled 
in the vault of the Tullianum. The people thronged roundh 
Cicero as he descended to the forum, hailed him thej 
savior and second founder of Eome. The streets were ilW 
minated, and each in the train of citizens that accompanied 



1 Plut. Cat. Min., 23 ; this speech was reported by the stenographers and published. 
The following are the usual dates of the four Catilinian orations with the corrections, 
on account of the disorder of the calendar : 

I. Ad Senatum, a. d. VI., Id. Nov. = Nov. 8. b. c. 63 = Jan. 12, b. c. 62. 

II. Ad Populum, a. d. V., Id. Nov. = Nov. 9, " " = Jan. 13, " " 

III. Ad Populum, a. d. III., Nou. Dec. = Dec. 3, " " = Feb. 5, " •• 

IIII. Ad Senatum, Nonis Dec. = Dec. 5, " " = Feb. 7, " w 

a The other four had escaped. 



298 THE CONSULSHIP OF M. TULLIUS CICEKO. [B. C. 63. 

Cicero home, acknowledged that Eome owed its safety to 
Cicero alone. 1 

16. Defeat and Death of Catiline. — While these events 
were going on in the city, Catiline and Manlius had collected 
two legions, mostly from the veterans of Sulla. When news 
reached them that the plot had failed at Eome, many of the 
soldiers deserted, and Catiline endeavored to retreat into Cis- 
alpine Gaul. But Metellus Celer occupied the passes of the 
Apennines, while Catiline was closely followed by Antonius. 
Catiline, hemmed in between the two armies, turned upon 
Antonius, who, ashamed to light against his old friend, feigned 
sickness. The command fell into the hands of Petrejus, an 
old and skillful soldier. The armies met near Pistoria (Pistoja); 
the struggle was desperate and bloody. Catiline fell in the 
thick of the Koman army, to which he had cut his way, sword 
in hand. His two lieutenants were killed. Not a single free- 
man was taken prisoner ; they covered with their bodies the 
places where they fought. 2 

17. The Position of Cicero. — The conspiracy had been 
crushed and the republic saved from great danger, yet there 
was a deep undercurrent of discontent, and Caesar's warning 
against trifling with the constitutional sacredness of a Eoman 
citizen's life, began to be felt. At the head of this faction 
were the magistrates of the following year, L. Caesar, and the 
tribunes Metellus and Bestia. When Cicero, according to 
custom, ascended the rostra on the last day of the year, to give 
an account to the people of the events of his consulship, 
Metellus forbade him to speak. " The man/' said he, " who 



1 Mommsen (1. c. vol. iii., p. 188 f.) considers the execution as unconstitutional. 
There can, however, be no doubt, that from the patrician standpoint, the law of the 
republic invested the consuls with the power of life and death as soon as the senate 
had issued its final decree. In support of this view we have the opinion of Caesar (b. c. 7) 
and of Sallust (Cat. 29), both of the popular party, who recognize it as an existing 
right of the senate. Ea potestas, says Sallust, per senatum more Romano magistrui 
maxima permittitur. exercitum parari, helium gerere, cceercere omnibus modiis socios 
atque civis domi militceque imperium atque judicium, summum habere ; aliUr sine populi 
jussu nullius earum rerum consulijus est. Caesar admits it ; with certain limitations, it 
is true, but still he recognizes the right as belonging to the senate. The people had 
often questioned this prerogative, and plebiscita had declared it null and void ; but the 
nobility by no means recognized the validity of these enactments, 

a The battle took place in March b, c, 62, 



B.C. 62.] RETUKK OF POMPEJUS FKOM THE EAST. 299 

condemned our fellow-citizens unheard, shall not himself be 
listened to." Then Cicero raised his voice and said, " I 
swear that I have saved the republic and the city from ruin." 
The people applauded, and with one voice responded that he 
had spoken the truth. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



Return of Pompejus from the East — Caesar Proprietor 

m Spain. 

1. The Position of Parties. — The attempt of the insur- 
gents to get control of the government had failed. The effort 
to incriminate the leaders of the democratic party in the con- 
spiracy, although they may have watched its progress with 
satisfaction, were futile. Even the people had been alarmed 
and alienated by the incendiary schemes of the conspirators, 
and the optimates were able to resume in a measure their old 
position at the head of the government. Their recent suc- 
cess encouraged them in their opposition to Pompejus, and 
in the belief that the old powers of the senate could be 
restored. The day, however, was drawing near when Pompe- 
jus would return. He had already sent his legate Metellus 
Nepos to be elected tribune for the purpose of procuring for 
him the consulship and the conduct of the war against 
Catiline. 1 Cato, the leader of the radical senatorial party, 
declared himself a candidate for the tribunate for the purpose 
of preventing this. There was also an influential party in the 
senate headed by Lucullus, Metellus Crifcicus, and M. Crassus, 
who were opposed to Pompejus, from personal motives. 2 The 
consequence was that when Nepos found the whole strength 

1 When Nepos proposed these rogations, a terrible tumult ensued. Nepos fled to 
Pompejus ; the senate suspended Caesar from his prsetorship ; his firmness compelled 
the senate to recall the penalty ; the senate declared all who questioned the justice of 
the executions of the conspirators, public enemies. a See pp. 275, n. 3 ; 281. 



300 



TRIUMPH OF POMPEJUS. 



[B. C. 62. 



of the senatorial party was arrayed against him, he made ad- 
vances to the democrats, who, yielding to necessity, conceded 
the demands of Pompejus. Nepos in return accepted the 
democratic view of the execution of the conspirators. Caesar 
sought in various ways to conciliate the favor of Pompejus 




Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. l 
(Restored by Canina.) 

and to bring him in collision with the aristocracy. He pro- 
posed to have the superintendence of rebuilding the Capitoline 
temple transferred from Catulus to Pompejus. 

2. Triumph of Pompejus.— In b. c. 62, Pompejus reached 
Italy, and instead of marching with his army to Kome as 
Crassus had expected, 2 immediately dismissed his soldiers until 

1 The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was built by Tarquinius Superbus in b. c. 535. 
It was nearly square, being 200 Roman feet in length, and 185 in width (Vitr. iv., 7, 1). 
The figure of Jupiter was the most prominent object within the temple. In his right 
hand was a thunderbolt, and in his left a spear. The gates were of gilt bronze, and the 
pavement of mosaic. It was burned in b. c. 83 but soon rebuilt and adorned with 
columns of Pentelic marble taken from the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens. This 
temple (see p. 18, n. 4,) lasted until it was burnt by the soldiers of Vitellius in A. D. 69. 
The temple was rebuilt by Vespasian in exact likeness of its predecessor, only higher, 
because the haruspices said the gods would not allow the plan to be altered (Tac. Hist., 
iv., 53). It was finally, in A. d. 455, plundered by the Vandals and the works of art 
carried off to Africa. 2 Plut. Pomp., 43. 



B. c. 100.] 



THE RISE OF C^SAE. 



301 



it was time for them to attend his triumph. He set out him- 
self for Kome, and asked permission of the senate to enter the 
city without forfeiting his claim to a triumph. Cato opposed the 
request, and it was refused. He remained outside the walls 
until his triumph took place. It lasted two days and was the 
most splendid that Eome had ever seen. He had conquered 
fifteen nations, and three hundred and twenty-four princes 
walked before his triumphal car. Pompejus acted with great 
moderation ; he simply demanded of the senate allotments of 




Gajus Julius Caesar. 

land for his soldiers, and confirmation of his acts in the East. 
The senate, influenced by Lucullus and Cato, refused these 
requests, and Pompejus had no alternative but to fall back on 
the popular party. 

3. The Rise of Caesar. — Just at this time Caesar returned 
from Spain, where he had achieved brilliant success and laid 
the foundation of his military career. From this time the 
power fell more and more into the hands of prominent men. 
Fortune had given Pompejus power which he did not know how 



302 THE KISE OP C^SAR. [b. 0. 70. 

to use. It was snatched from him by a man who was w r orthy 
of it. Gajus Julius Caesar was born July 12, b. c. 100/ and 
therefore was six years younger than Pompejus or Cicero. He 
sprang from an old patrician family, but the circumstances of 
his early life brought him in close connection with the Marian 
party. His aunt had married Marius, and he himself, when 
seventeen years old, had taken the daughter of Cinna, one of 
the Marian leaders, for his wife. He refused, at the bidding 
of Sulla when dictator,- to divorce his wife, as Pompejus had 
done. His name was placed on the list of the proscribed ; but he 
concealed himself among the Sabine hills until the intercession 
of the vestal virgins and nobility obtained his pardon. "You 
wish it," said Sulla ; "I grant it; but in this boy there 
are more than one Marius." Caesar, however, would not 
accept pardon, but so long as Sulla lived he avoided the capital. 
He went to Asia Minor, and in the siege of Mitylene he won the 
civic crown for saving the life of a citizen. On his return to 
Eome he took advantage of the popular dissatisfaction with 
Sulla's arrangements to win the favor of the people. He 
impeached Cn. Dolabella and.Gr. Antonius.for extortion in their 
provinces. Although they were acquitted by the senatorial 
judges, still his success was such as to stimulate his ambition. 
To render himself still more proficient he determined to retire 
to Ehodes, then celebrated for its rhetoricians. At this time 
Servilius Isauricus was conducting the war against the pirates, 
and Caesar, while on his way to Khodes, was taken prisoner by 
the pirates. They demanded twenty talents for his ransom. 
"It is too little/' said he; "you shall have fifty; but once 
free, I will crucify you." And he kept his word. 

4. He Restores the Trophies of Marius. — In b. c. 70 he 
supported the claims of Pompejus for the consulship and the 
laws he proposed, because they admirably accorded with his own 
plans. In b. c. 69 Caesar was quaestor. In this year his aunt 



1 Mommsen set the date b. c. 102, because "he obtained the agdile^hip in b. c. fi5, praetor- 
ship b. c. 62, and consulship 59, while according to the leges cmnale$\he$e offices could 
not be held before the 37-38th, 40-41 st and 43-44th years of age. Cse^ar was no doubt 
exempt, by a special law, like Pompejus and many others, from the law, though this is 
nowhere mentioned in our authorities. 



B. C. 60.] THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. 303 

Julia, and wife Cornelia, died. In pronouncing, according to 
custom, their eulogy, he said: "My aunt Julia derived her 
descent by her mother from a race of kings, and by her father 
from the immortal gods. In our family is the sacred majesty 
of kings, who are masters of the world, and the divine majesty . 
of gods, who are the masters of kings." * Three years later he 
dared to restore the trophies of Marius. When these glittered 
once more in gold and marble in their old place, the veterans 
crowded round the statue of their beloved leader, with tears in 
their eyes. As aedile he not only embellished the comitium and 
the rest of the forum, and exhibited three hundred and twenty 
pairs of gladiators equipped in silver, but in the diversions of 
the theatre, in the processions and public tables, he far outshone 
the most ambitious of his predecessors. 2 His prodigality was 
frightful ; his debts enormous. He owed twenty-five million 
sesterces. 3 His liberality, his magnanimity, made him the 
favorite of the people. Even his vices endeared him to them. 
Cicero 4 says that genius, method, memory, literature, prudence, 
deliberation and industry were combined in him. When Catu- 
lus, the chief pontiff, died, the most illustrious men solicited 
the office. Caesar, however, did not give place to them. On 
the morning of the election he said: "I shall this day either be 
chief pontiff or an exile." 

5. Caesar the Greatest Man of Antiquity. — Until 
Caesar was forty years of age his military experience was of the 
most limited kind. Then he became the greatest general of his 
age. It must have been a strange sight to see that profligate 
spendthrift, that elegant debauchee, his countenance pale and 
white, withered before its time by the excesses of the capital, that 
delicate and epileptic man, walking at the head of his legions 
under the rains of Gaul, swimming its rivers, climbing its mount- 
ains on foot, and making his bed among rains and snows in its 
forests and morasses. 5 When carried in his litter he read and 
wrote, and dictated to four and sometimes to seven amanuen- 
ses at once. He could be reading, writing, dictating and listen- 

1 Snet., 6. 3 Pint. Cses. 3 $1,250,000. 

4 2 Pkill., 45. 5 Michelst, p. 336 ; Suetonius Caes.; Plut. Cses. 



S04 FIRST COKSULSHIP OF CAESAR. [b. C. 59. 

ing all at the same time. At the most perilous moments he knew 
how to seize a shield and fight in the ranks of his soldiers. "He 
was," says Drumann, "great in everything he undertook; as a 
captain, a statesman, a lawgiver, a jurist, an orator, a poet, an 
historian, a grammarian, a mathematician, and an architect. 1 " 

6. The First Triumvirate (b. c. 60). — As propraetor he 
received the province of Spain. Even before his departure his 
old friend Crassus had to relieve him of a portion of his debt. 
He returned to Kome before the consular elections of b. c. 60, 
and found Pompejus at variance with the senate. He made over- 
tures to him, and promised to secure the ratification of his acts 
in the East and the assignment of lands for his soldiers. In 
return Pompejus was to support Caesar for the consulship. The 
success of the coalition 2 was secured by Caesar's gaining over 
Crassus, whose great wealth gave him prominent influence in 
the senate. This was the master stroke of Caesar's policy to 
overcome the bitter jealousy between Pompejus and Crassus, 
and effect a reconciliation. 

7. The First Consulship of Caesar (b. c. 59).— Caesar 
was elected consul with M. Bibulus, a narrow minded optimate, 
as his colleague. He immediately brought forward his proposals 
— the agrarian law, 3 the ratification of Pompejus' acts 4 in the 
East, and a bill for granting the petition of the knights 5 to be 
relieved from the terms on which they had agreed to farm the 
taxes in Asia. After the most obstinate resistance on the part 
of the optimates the laws were carried. Twenty commissioners, 
with Pompejus and Crassus. at their head, were appointed to 
superintend the distribution of the land. At the close of his 
consulship Caesar was invested 6 with the government of Cisal- 

1 Geschhckte Boms, vol. iii., p. 746. 

2 This private league was afterwards known as the First Triumvirate. 

* The lex Julia agraria proposed the division of the ager publicus in Italy. The sec- 
ond lex agraria included the ager Campanus" and the campus Stellatis, which were to 
be divided among the poor citizens. * The lex Julia de actis Pompeji, 

5 The lex Julia de publicanis, to conciliate Crassus. Cato's severity in refusing to 
release the lessees of the taxes in Asia Minor from the terms on which they had agreed to 
farm the revenue there, alienated the equestrian order, and made them eager to transfer 
their allegiance to the triumvirs, who promised to procure for them the remission of one- 
third of the sum they had promised to pay. 

The lex Vatinia de provincia Ccesaris ; in connection with this was the lex Vatinia 
de colonia Latina Comum deducenda. Caesar had alreadv advocated the granting of citi- 
zenship to the Transpadane Gauls. This was a step in that direction, and the 5000 colo- 
nists assured him of their fidelity. Comum from this time was called Novum Comum. 



B.C. 58.] FIRST CONSULSHIP OF C^ESAB. 305 

pine and Transalpine Gaul and Illyricum, with eight legions, 
for the space of live years. 1 The main object of his consulship 
had been attained. He had bound Pompejus and Crassus to 
himself and to the popular party more closely, and as proconsul 
of Cisalpine Gaul, he could watch the progress of affairs in the 
capital. The threatening movements of the tribes in Transal- 
pine Gaul opened to him a wide field for the exercise of his 
military genius, and gave him time to form a powerful army 
devoted to his interests. Pompejus undertook, in the mean- 
time, to watch over Italy and carry into execution the agrarian 
law. 

8. Publius Clodius. — The success of the triumvirs seemed 
complete, and the power of the senate completely broken. Still 
the people were fickle, and there were symptoms of discontent. 
Some of the optimates were rash enough to propose the annul- 
ling of the Julian laws. It was evident that the senate bore with 
inward rage the yoke that Caesar had laid upon it. Even Pom- 
pejus felt that his present position hardly accorded with his 
aristocratic notions, and he repented of the step he had taken. 2 
There was danger then that during Caesar's absence a reconcil- 
iation would take place between him and the senate, and that 
he would succeed once more in winning the support of the 
popular party. To prevent this, Caesar made use of Publius 
Clodius Pulcher, who had for a long time been attempting to 
procure his adoption into a plebeian house, that he might be 
elected to the tribunate. Clodius procured his adoption 3 with the 
aid of Caesar, who henceforth found in him an apt instrument 
for humbling the power of the senate, and, in case of need, to 
act against Pompejus. Clodius was exasperated against the sen- 
atorial party, and particularly against Cicero. The consuls for 
the following year were L. Calpurnius Piso, Caesar's father-in- 

1 Gallia Transalpine w&s added by the senate and no time mentioned. The Gallia Cisal- 
pina was conferred until March 1st, b. c. 54, instead of January 1st, on which day, accord- 
ing to the lex Cornelia de provinciis, the consuls and praetors were accustomed to enter 
on their provinces. 

" Cic. and Atticus ii., 232 (written Aug-., b. c. 59): "In the first place, then, I would 
have you know that our friend Sampsiceramus (i. e., Pompejus) is heartily sick of his sit- 
uation, and wishes he could be restored to that place from which he has f alien.' ' 

3 The lex curiata de arrogatione : Caesar, as pontifex maximus, managed the affair for 
Clodius. 



306 LEGISLATION OE CLODIUS. [b. C. 58. 



law, and A. Gabinius, an adherent of Pompejus, while P. Clo- 
dius 1 was elected tribune of the people. The personal bonds 
between Caesar and Pompejus were drawn still more closely by 
the marriage of Pompejus with Julia, Caesar's only daughter, 
then twenty years of age. 

9. Clodius' Legislation.— Caesar still lay with his legions 
before the walls of Rome, ready to support his party, if neces- 
sary. Clodius, agreeable to his instructions, immediately on 
entering the tribunate proposed and carried four rogations 
at the same time. 

The first 2 was intended to secure the favor of the peo- 
ple by providing that they should be supplied with corn 
gratuitously. 

The second 3 was directed against the very citadel of the sena- 
torial power ; it forbade the consuls to hinder legislation under 
pretence of observing the heavens. 4 



1 This was the same Clodius who had attempted to incite an insurrection in the army 
of Lucullus, in b. c. 67. In b. c. 62, while the Roman matrons were met in Caesar's house 
to celebrate, according to custom, the mysteries of the Good Goddess (Bona Dea), in 
which it was considered the greatest profanation for any male creature to be present, 
Clodius entered, disguised as a female musician. He was detected and the mysteries has- 
tily veiled, but Clodius made his escape. The scandal created great excitement. Caesar 
was compromised. He divorced his wife Pompeja. The case was brought before the 
senate. The trial lasted through b. c. 62 and 61. Clodius bribed the judges and procured 
his acquittal. He was deeply embittered against the senate, and particularly against 
Cicero, who hnd appeared against him as a witness. He vowed vengeance, and for this 
purpose procured his adoption into a plebeian family, and became a candidate for the 
tribunate. Caesar found in him a suitable instrument for accomplishing his designs 
against Cicero and the senatorial party. 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 
Appius Claudius* Pulcher. 



Ap.Cl. Pulcher. C. Cl. Pulcher. P. Clodius Pulcheb. 

cos. 54. prset. b. c. 56. trib. pleb. b. c. 58. 



Claudia m. Claudia m. 

Cn. Pompejus. M. Brutus. I 

P. Cloddjs. Clodia m. Octavius. 

* Sometimes called Claudius and sometimes Clodius (c. f . caudex and codex, claustrum 
and dostrum)', it became the custom, in later times of the republic, for several of the 
Claudii to call themselves Clodii. 

2 The lex frumentaria. 
. 3 The lex Clodia dejure et tempore lec/urn rorfandarum, i. e., that it should be legal to 
propose rogations to the people on all dies fasti, that is, on all dies fasti non comitiales. 
4 See page 40. 



B. C. 58.] BANISHMENT OF CICERO. 307 

The third 1 re-established the ancient guilds of trade, which 
the senate had recently suppressed. 

The fourth 2 annulled the most despotic prerogative of the 
censors, by forbidding them to deny any magistrate admittance 
to the senate who was legally entitled to a seat there. 

10. The Banishment of Cicero. — The next and most 
important service which Clodius performed for the triumvirs 
was to deprive the senate of their two ablest and most influen- 
tial members. Although Clodius was a bitter enemy of Cicero, 
and would gladly have driven him from the state, yet he could 
do nothing without the consent of the triumvirs. Agreeably 
to his instructions, he proposed a bill to entrust Cato with the 
government of Cyprus, which was to be converted into a prov- 
ince, and to interdict from fire and water any magistrate who 
had put Eoman citizens to death without a trial. Cicero's name 
was not mentioned. He, however, saw his peril, dressed him- 
self in mourning, and went round the forum soliciting the com- 
passion of the people. The senate and knights assembled on 
the capitol to consult concerning the threatened danger. A 
deputation, headed by Hortentius and Scribonius Curio, was 
sent to implore the assistance of the consuls. 3 Deputations 
from the Italian towns flocked to Eome to offer their sympathy. 
Cicero appealed personally to Pompejus, and prostrated himself 
before him as a suppliant. Pompejus repelled him coldly, with 
the answer that he could do nothing without Caesar's consent. 
As for Caesar, he expressed his opinion plainly in an assembly 4 of 
the people convened by Clodius 5 in the circus of Flaminius, be- 
yond the walls. Here Caesar could be present, for as proconsul at 
the head of the legions it was not lawful for him to enter the city. 
The two consuls spoke against Cicero, and Caesar repeated the 
opinion which he had maintained from the first in the senate — 
that the execution of the conspirators was illegal, but that, in a 



1 The lex Clodia de collegiis. 

2 The lex Clodia de censoria notione. 

3 They would do nothing to offend Clodius for they needed his assistance to procure a 
rich province. * Contio. 

s Clodius openly boasted that he acted in understanding with Caesar, Pompejus and 
Crassus. Cic. Gest. 17, 39 I ; Har. Resp. 22. 



308 THE CONQUEST OF THE WEST. [B. C. 58-51. 

matter so long passed, he deprecated severe measures. All 
availed nothing. The armed bands of Olodius kept possession 
of the forum. Cicero thought it best to yield to the storm, and 
after dedicating in the capitol a small statue of Minerva, the 
tutelary deity of Rome as well as of Athens, withdrew from the 
city. 1 Clodius then carried a bill interdicting Cicero by name 
from fire and water within 400 miles of Rome. His property 
was confiscated, and his house on the Palatine was burnt. 
Caesar's measures in the capital had been satisfactorily accom- 
plished, and he was now ready to set out for his province. 2 It 
was time, for the threatening movements of the Celtic tribes 
demanded his presence. 



CHAPTER XLYII. 

The Conquest of the West (B. C. 58-51). 

1. The Condition of Gaul. — The Eomans had already- 
come in contact with the Celts in Gaul, and had converted the 
strip of land on the seaboard between the Alps and Pyrenees 
into a Eoman province (b. c. 118). The Eomans had for a long 
time regarded the Celtic province as very important, still they 
had made no systematic effort to extend their dominion in that 
quarter. The climate was healthy, the soil rich and fertile, and 
the intercourse with Italy, by land and sea, easy. Eoman mer- 
chants and farmers had already resorted in great numbers to 
Gaul, and had disseminated there Eoman civilization. The 
centre of this civilization was the old Greek city, Massilia, 
from which articles of luxury found their way up the Ehone and 
Soane, and thence, by land, to the Seine and Loire, in exchange 
for the products of Gaul. 

1 Cato left Kome about the same time. a Towards the end of March, b. c, 58, 



B.C. 



58-51.] 



THE CONQUEST OF THE WEST. 



309 



2. Defeat of the Helvetians (b.c. 58). — About this time 
the Helvetians, a Celtic tribe, becoming restless in their narrow 
territories, hemmed in as tthey were between the Jura, the 
Ehine and the Alps, and with their scanty means of subsistence, 
^jtermined to abandon their territories and seek larger and 
more fertile abodes to the west of the Jura mountains. As 
Caesar was waiting before the gates of Eome, in the beginning 
of b. c. 58, he heard that the Helvetians had already assembled 
on the Rhone for the purpose of crossing and settling in the 
West. Thinking that this would endanger the safety of the 
province he hastened to Gaul, reached the Rhone in eight 
days, and by skillful negotiations delayed the advance of the 
Helvetians until he had constructed a line of intrenchments 
from the lake of Geneva to the Jura 

mountains. This defeated the attempt 
of the Helvetians to cross the river in 
this direction, and they were com- 
pelled to take their way along its right 
bank, and thus make their journey 
westward by a more northerly route. 1 
Caesar hastily collected his forces, 2 fol- 
owed up the left bank of the Soane, 
cut to pieces a part of the Helvetian 

ny and pursued the remainder to 

bracte, 3 " where he defeated them 4 in 
a terrible battle and compelled them to 
return to their own country. 

3. War with Ariovistus (b. c. 58). — Next, Caesar advanced 
northward to Vesontio (Besangon), drove 5 back the Suevi, who 
had crossed the Rhine in great numbers 6 under their chief Ario- 







THE FORTIFICATIONS 



FROM LAKE GENEVA 
TO THE JURA MT. 



vistus, for the purpose of reconciling the contending factions 



1 Through the pass de TEcluse. 

2 He went to his other province and brought up the three legions there, as well as 
the two of newly enrolled recruits. He had in all 6 legions and 4000 Gallic horsemen. 

3 Bibracte was, according to GGler, on the site of the modern Autun ; according to 
Napoleon, some distance from Autun, on Mt. Beuvray. 

* The Helvetians had set out with 368,000, their whole population, of which 92,000 
were armed ; only 110,000 returned. 

5 The battle was fought near Czernay and Lower Aspach, 
6 120,000 had already crossed, 



310 THE CONQUEST OF THE WEST. [b. C. 58-51. 

and forming alliances in Gaul. The next year (b. c. 57) Caesar 
conquered the Belgic tribes, one of the three great nations that 
occupied Gaul. It was in this campaign that the Eomans were 
surprised by the Nervii, while pitching their camp, and that the 
line was restored by Caesar's seizing a shield and fighting in the 
ranks. During this year, Csesar's lieutenant, P. Crassus, 'subju- 
gated the tribes in Brittany and Normandy, so that at the end of 
the second year two of the three great divisions of Gaul w T ere in 
the power of the Eomans. In the third year Caesar advanced 
against the Veneti, who had revolted, and succeeded in captur- 
ing their towns and defeating their fleet in the first great naval 
battle fought in the Atlantic ocean. The Morini and Menapii 
submitted, and Caesar seemed to have fully attained one of the 
great objects which he set out to accomplish — the subjugation 
of Gaul. 

4. The Invasion of Germany and Britain (b. c. 55). — 
The other half of his work — to compel the Germans to recog- 
nize the Rhine as their boundary on the west — still remained 
before him. Two tribes had already been driven over the Rhine 
in the pressure of the Germanic tribes towards the West, but 
Caesar resolved to prevent them from settling in Gaul. They 
were defeated with tremendous slaughter, and Caesar determined 
to bridge the Rhine 1 and cross himself, in order to inspire the 
other German tribes with terror. In the autumn of the same 
year he crossed for a reconnaissance to Britain, 2 but his fleet was 
disabled by a storm, and he was content to withdraw, after a 
fortnight, to Gaul, for the winter. The next year he crossed 
again 3 with a large fleet, defeated the Britains under their 
leader Cassivellaunus, and compelled them to pay tribute and 
furnish hostages. 

5. Caesar's Victories Honored in Rome. — When the 
news of these prodigious marches and wonderful victories 



1 This was b. c. 55. The bridge was erected, according to Napoleon, at Bonn; accord- 
ing to Goler, between Bonn and Coblence. 

2 According to Napoleon, he sailed from the harbor of the modern Boulogne, both this 
and the next year; according to GOler, he embarked this year from Wissant, and the next 
year from Calais. 

3 He embarked from Portus Itius (probably Witsand, between Calais and Boulogne), 



B. C. 58-51.] THE CONQUEST OF THE WEST. 311 

reached Rome, a cry of admiration arose from all sides. The 
senate voted thanksgivings, in spite of the opposition of Cato. 
"Compared to the exploits of Caesar," said Cicero, "what has 
Marius done? He arrested the deluge of Gauls into Italy; but 
he never penetrated into their abodes, he never subdued their 
cities. Caesar has not only repulsed the Gauls, but he has sub- 
dued them. The Alps were once the barriers between Italy 
and the barbarians. The gods had placed the mountains 
there to shelter Eome in her weakness. Now let them sink 
and welcome. From the Alps to the ocean she has no enemy 
to fear." During the winter Caesar held his court, as usual, 
at Lucca, the most convenient point within his province, 
where he could watch the political complications in the 
capital and receive his numerous partisans and consult with 
them. Here consulars, senators and officials of all ranks 
crowded to his receptions, and all returned delighted with 
the courtesy and generosity of the conqueror. 

6. Revolt in Gaul. — Hitherto the Gauls had offered no 
united resistance, but in the winter of b. c. 54 they thought a 
favorable opportunity was offered for them to combine their 
forces, destroy their conqueror, and recover their independence, 
as Caesar was compelled to disperse his troops, on account of the 
scarcity of provisions. The corps among the Eburones, near 
Aduatica, was attacked, and on its retreat totally annihilated. 
The insurrection spread among the other tribes, and soon the 
insurgents, to the number of sixty thousand, laid siege to the 
camp of Q. Cicero, in the territory of the Nervii. Caesar, for- 
tunately, was still in Gaul. He hastened, with great speed, to 
Cicero's relief, raised the siege, and the insurgents dispersed. 
Caesar exacted terrible vengeance 1 from the revolted tribes, and 
in order to strike terror to the Germans, whom the Gauls had 
once more invited to their assistance, he crossed the Rhine 
again. In the following year (b. o. 53) he advanced to the 
north and exacted bloody vengeance on the Eburones, the lead- 
ers of the insurrection. The next year (b. c. 52) Caesar found 

1 For this campaign he raised three legions (two were borrowed from Pompejus). He 
had previously 8£ legions : l£ was lost in the attack ; he now had 10. 



312 THE CONQUEST OF THE WEST. [b. C. 58-51. 

all Gaul again arrayed against him in a general insurrection. 
The last attempt had failed because the proconsul had appeared 
unexpectedly on the scene of action. Now he was at a distance, 
detained on the Po by the imminence of civil war. This, then, 
was the time to strike. The Roman army could be annihilated 
and the province overrun before Caesar could reappear. The 
Carnutes offered to take the lead. Genabum 1 was attacked and 
the Eoman settlers put to death. The cry of war, repeated by 
men through the fields and villages, reached the Averni the 
same evening, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. 2 

7. Gallant Defence of Vercingetorix. — Vercingetorix, 
the chief of the Averni, joined the insurrection and called upon 
all to fight for the liberty of their country. Just at this time 
Caesar crossed the Alps, took measures to protect the province, 
forced his way across the Cevennes through the deep snow, and 
appeared unexpectedly to all in the land of the Averni. After 
collecting his legions he marched directly upon Genabum, 
which had given the signal for revolt. It was pillaged and laid 
in ashes. Vercingetorix urged his countrymen to change the 
plan of the war, and instead of resisting the Eomans in the 
open field or in their fortified towns, to burn their towns, cut 
off the supplies and lay the country waste far and wide. The 
plan worked admirably. Caesar's foraging parties found it diffi- 
cult to obtain supplies, and the army began to be pinched by 
hunger. In the general destruction Avaricum (Bourges) had 
been spared. Hither Caesar hastened with all speed, and pressed 
the siege with energy. The town surrendered and its abundant 
stores relieved the wants of the army. Caesar was enabled once 
more to show a bold front to the enemy, and he entered the 
territories of the Averni and laid siege to their capital, Gergo- 
via. 3 Here he met with his first defeat in Gaul, and was com- 
pelled to retreat. This was a critical moment for Cassar. His 
enemies in Rome were eagerly scanning the news, hoping that 
some disaster would befall him, while his position in Gaul 
depended on the halo of victory that surrounded him. His 



* According to Napoleon, the modern Gien, 2 Cses, bel, Gal. vii., 3. 3 -Sear Clermont. 



B. 0. 58-51.] THE COXQUEST OF THE WEST. 313 

retreat was the signal for the iEdui to revolt, and the whole 
Celtic nation, with the single exception of the Kemi, were in 
arms, and the warriors swore not to revisit their homes until 
they had crossed at least twice the ranks of the enemy. 1 
Caesar, however, was undismayed. He called out the levy to 
protect the province, and advanced himself towards Agedin- 
cum to join Labienus. After the junction of the two armies 
Caesar turned to the south, in order to protect the province 
from invasion. 

8. Siege of Alesia (b. c. 52).— On his way was Alesia, 2 
where Vercingetorix had intrenched himself with 80,000 men. 
The city was situated upon a hill, in what was supposed to be 
an impregnable position. Here the Celts had taken final ref- 
uge, and Vercingetorix had dispatched his cavalry to summon 
all Gaul to his relief. The Eomans had hardly invested the 
place when they were surrounded by a tremendous army 3 which 
had assembled to relieve it. Caesar was in great peril, still he 
would not raise the siege, but by a masterly disposition of his 
forces he prevented Vercingetorix from breaking through the 
lines, defeated the Celtic army without, and compelled Alesia 
to surrender. The people were reduced to slavery, and the 
number was so great that each soldier had one slave. Ver- 
cingetorix, the noble representative of all that was brave and 
generous in his nation, was reserved to grace his captor's 
triumph and to perish in the dungeons of the capitol. The 
fall of Alesia ended the war. What followed 4 was only like the 
swell of the ocean after a mighty storm. A general insurrec- 
tion was impossible. The other tribes soon submitted, and 
after eight years the subjugation of the region between the 
Alps, the Rhine and the ocean was complete. 

9. Caesar's Organization of Gaul. — During the winter 
Caesar travelled through Gaul, settled the condition of the 
country, and conciliated the favor of the people. Honors and 
privileges were bestowed upon the chiefs and the cities, and even 
the franchise was granted to a number of noble Celts, several of 

1 Bell. Gal., vii., 15. 2 Situated between Chatillon and Dijon, on Mt. Auxoia. 

3 350,000 infantry and 8000 cavalry, * In b. . c. 51, ----- 



314 



THE COKQUEST OF THE WEST. [B. C. 58-51. 



whom were admitted to the senate. The territory was united to 
the province of Narbo until b. c. 44, when two provinces 1 were 
formed from it — Gallia and Belgica. The taxes 2 imposed were 
light, and the levying of them was intrusted to each commu- 
nity. Caesar left the Gauls their land, their laws and their 




religion; and in a great measure their self-government was undis- 
turbed. In fact, he spared everything that did not interfere 
with his fundamental idea — the Komanizing of Gaul. In order 
to turn their eyes toward Eome, the Eoman monetary system 
was introduced, and the Latin language was made the language 



1 In a. d. 17, Lugdunensis and Aquitania were formed from Gallia. 

2 Forty million sesterces (about $2,000,000) were levied annually. The gold col- 
lected in the temples and by the nobles was confiscated, and this brought so much in the 
market that gold fell, as compared with silver, 25 per cent. 



B.C. 58-51.] ANARCHY Itf THE CAPITAL. 315 

of official intercourse. By these wise and judicious measures the 
country became thoroughly Romanized, and the laws and insti- 
tutions of Rome formed the basis of its social and political 
life. 1 



CHAPTER XliVIII. 



Anarchy en" the Capital — Rupture between Caesar and 

the Senate. 

1. Political Agitation in the Capital. — During Caesar's 
absence Pompejus had been appointed by the triumvirs to rule 
the capital. In this he had undertaken a task far beyond his 
ability. To rule the waves of political agitation in the capital 
that swelled with past and future revolutions, required a 
greater magician than he. After Caesar's departure to Gaul, 
Clodius gave free reins to his audacity. Bands of gladiators 
roamed the streets and dispersed the rabble that represented the 
Roman people. It soon began to be felt that the throne was 
vacant, and that the master was in Gaul. Clodius was embold- 
ened to commence a violent attack even on Pompejus. The 
restoration of the clubs had given Clodius an opportunity to 
organize the whole free and slave proletariate of the capital. 
Utterly helpless to quell the disorder, and intimidated into the 
belief that a plot was formed against his life, Pompejus retired 
from the contest and shut himself up in his house. Caesar came 
to his rescue, and the next election freed him from his petty 

1 In these eight campaigns Caesar had taken more than 800 cities, defeated 300 tribes 
or nearly three million of men, one million of whom he had slain, and made an equal 
number prisoners. When Caesar took command in Gaul, he had four legions, 7th, 8th, 
9th, and 10th ; the 11th and 12th, Caesar enrolled for the campaign against the Helvetii ; 
the 13th and 14th for the Belgian campaign. The 14th was cut to pieces by the Eburones, 
but another 14th and also 15th were afterwards levied in Gaul. Caesar enlisted Gauls and 
one legion, the Alauda (so-called because the helmets of the soldiers were distinguished 
by a lark) was composed wholly of Gauls. The results that sprung from Caesar's wars 
in Gaul, had a momentous influence on the destinies of the world ; for Caesar first taught 
the Romans to protect the frontiers of their empire by means of rivers or artificial ram- 
parts, to colonize the nearest tribes along the frontier, and to recruit the Roman army 
from the enemy's country. By these means the migrations of the Germanic tribes were 
checked, anu^the necessary interval for Italian civilization to become established in 
Gaul, on the Danube, in Africa, and in Spain was gained.— See Mommsen, vol. iv., p. 301 * 



316 cicero's recall .from exile. [b. c. 57. 

persecution. ' The new consuls 1 were favorable to Cicero, and 
on the first day of their office, proposed a bill to recall him 
from exile. One of the tribunes imposed his veto, and prevented 
the bill from being carried in the senate. Pompejus proposed to 
bring it before the people, but a terrible fray ensued in which, 
according to Cicero, the Tiber and sewers were filled with 
bodies, and the forum swam in blood. 2 

2. Cicero's Recall from Exile (b. c. 57).— Finally, in 
July, the nobles armed a party of swordsmen under T. Annius 
Milo to encounter Clodius. Desperate fights occurred in the 
streets, and at last the senate, in concert with Pompejus, deter- 
mined to invite the voters from all Italy to repair to Eome 
and assist in carrying a law for Cicero's recall. On the 4th of 
August the bill was carried, and on the next day Cicero landed 
in Brundisium, where he expected to meet his family. All 
Italy came out to meet him, and so great was the public joy 
that he declared that all Italy carried him back to Eome on 
her shoulder. 3 On the 4th day of September he re-entered 
the city. All the streets and temples were filled with the vast 
multitude, so that no triumph had ever been equal to his 
return from exile. 4 Clodius in the meantime continued 
his agitation. He drove off the workmen who were rebuilding 
Cicero's house, and even attacked Cicero himself in the open 
streets. As his drilled bands filed through the public squares, 
no one dared attack him. He was a victim reserved for the 
sword of Milo. 

3. The Renewal of the Triumvirate (b. c. 56).— Pom- 
pejus yielded in various ways to the wishes of the senate and 
hoped to effect a reconciliation with the senatorial party. 
Cicero co-operated with Pompejus, and proposed that he 
should be invested with extraordinary powers for the purpose 
of supplying Eome with provisions. The senate, however, 

1 P Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Metellus Nepos. 

2 Pro Sest., 35, 38. 3 Pint. Cic, 33. 

4 The lex Cornelia granted him indemnification— 2,000,000 sesterces ($85,000) for his 
house on the Palatine ; he had bought the house of Crassus for 3^ million sesterces 
($150,000); this left 1\ million for the land ; his villas at Tnscnlum ($20,000) and Formiae 
($10,000). After his return he delivered four orations: Post reditum : (1) Oratio cum 
senatui gratias egit ; (2) cum populo graiias egit ; (3) de domo ma ad pontifices ; 
(4) ad haruspices. 



B.C. 56.] THE TKIUMYIRATE RENEWED. 317 

was not yet quite ready to receive Pompejus as dictator, 
and Crassus, who was ardently attached to Caesar, openly 
opposed the bill. The discord between Pompejus and Orassus 
fomented daily. The senate refused Pompejus the commis- 
sion to restore the expelled king of Egypt, and finally dared to 
attack the law carried by Caesar in regard to the Campanian 
land. The senate began to feel that the hour had come to 
begin the struggle against the triumvirs. When the consular 
elections came the senate put forward L. Domitius Ahenobar- 
bus, who threatened to propose a law for Caesar's recall. The 
nobility had thrown down the gauntlet to Caesar. It was 
time for him to act. In April b. c. 56, he invited Pompejus and 
Crassus to an interview at Luca 1 (Lucca), reconciled them to 
each other, and arranged a plan for the following year. Pom- 
pejus and Crassus were to be elected consuls, and to obtain pro- 
consular commands, the one in Spain, the other in Syria. 
Caesar's province was to be granted to him for another term 
of five years. Crassus promised to keep P. Clodius and his 
gang quiet, while Cicero was to be reminded of the promise he 
had made, before his return from exile, 2 through his brother, 
in regard to his conduct towards Caesar. 

4. The Second Consulship of Pompejus and Crassus 
(b. c. 55).— It was impossible to carry the election of Pompejus 
and Crassus in opposition to the two consuls. Two tribunes 
were therefore employed to adjourn the comitia during the 
year, to prevent at least the election of others. A great num- 
ber of soldiers were dismissed on furloughs from Caesar's army 
to take part in voting. Even P. Crassus, the son of the triumvir, 
appeared with a detachment of troops. In the beginning of B. c. 
55 the elections were held ; the armed bands of the triumvirs 
having driven their opponents from the Campus Martius. 



1 There were, according to Appian (b. c. ii., 17), 200 senators and so many magistrates 
present at Luca that there were 120 lictors ; see also Pint. Cses., 21. 

2 Cic. ad. fam. i., 9, 9 f. ; and Q. fr. 2, 6, 2. From the 11th of April to May 6, Cicero 
received no letter from his brother. On the 15th of May when the question came up in 
the senate in reference to the Campanian land, Cicero had received the warning from 
his brother (ad fam. i., 9, 10), and was not present. Cicero gave evidence of his resumed 
allegiance to Caesar by supporting the bill to give him ten legates, and to pay his soldiers 
from the public treasury (Cic. Prov. Cons., 11, 28); see Mommsen, 1. c. vol. iv., p. 326, n, 



318 CKASSUS DEPAKTS FOE SYRTA. [B. C. 55. 

The arrangements made at Luca were carried out. Caesar's 
command was prolonged 1 for another fiye years; the two Spains 
were assigned to Pompejus, and Syria to Crassus. 

5. Pompejus and the Senate. — Pompejus rejoiced to find 
himself once more at the head of an army ; but contrary to 
the expectations of all, he remained at the capital under the 
pretext of supplying it with provisions, while his lieutenants, 
Afranius and Petrejus, were entrusted with the command in 
Spain. Once more he adopted his old policy, and encouraged 
secretly the disorder in Rome, hoping that the senate would 
be compelled to nominate him dictator. The turbulence of 
the mob was worse than ever. Many began to foresee the ap- 
proaching end of the republic. Pompejus sought to ingratiate 
himself with the people. He built a magnificent stone theatre 2 
on the Campus Martius, the first of its kind in Rome, capable 
of holding forty thousand spectators. At the dedication, plays 3 
of Attius and of Livius Andronicus were presented, and 
five hundred lions and eighteen elephants were hunted in the 
arena by trained bands of gladiators. 

6. Crassus Departs for Syria (b. c. 55).— Crassus, al- 
though he was already sixty and had not entered a camp 
for sixteen years, was impatient to depart to his province 
and seize the riches of the East. From his province of 
Syria, he could conduct the war against the Parthians and 
penetrate into the distant regions of the East. The Parthians, 
however, had long been at peace with Rome, and the treaty of 
Sulla had been renewed by Pompejus. The senate refused to 
declare war, and the nobles sought by means of the tribune 
Atejus, to excite the religious scruples of the people against an 
invasion into the territory of a people at peace with Rome. 
As Crassus was making the usual sacrifices in the capitol for the 
successful result of his expedition, the tribune announced the 
appearance of unfavorable omens. The senate refused to 
declare war. When Crassus was hastening from the city to 



1 Caesar's command was extended until March 1, b. c. 49, which was equivalent to 
extending it until January 1, b. c. 48, as the senate generally took action on the provinces 
at the beginning of the year 

2 See p. . 3 Clytsemnestra and Trojan Horse. 



B. C. 53.] CRASSUS PROCOKSUL IK SYRIA. 319 

take command of the army, the tribune met him at the gate 
and kindled a fire in a censer, and with incense and libations 
devoted Crassus with terrible imprecations to the infernal 
gods. 1 Other strange omens followed him and dispirited his 
soldiers. His mind, however, was filled with glorious visions 
of conquest. He hoped to surpass the fame and exploits of 
Caesar and Pompejus, and to penetrate into the unknown 
regions of the East. 2 He passed the winter in Syria, where, 
instead of exercising his soldiers and preparing for war, 
he plundered the temples and confiscated the revenues of the 
cities. 

7. Crassus Crosses the Euphrates. — In the spring of 
B. c. 53, he prepared to set out on his expedition. 3 He crossed 
the Euphrates at Zeugma, but instead of following the course 
of this river, as his quaestor G. Cassius advised him to do, 
so that his ships could reach him with supplies, and where the 
advance to Ctesiphon and Seleucia would be comparatively easy, 
he trusted to the guidance of an Arabian chief who promised to 
lead him by the nearest way to the enemy. This man had 
already served under Pompejus and was supposed to be friendly 
to the Romans. When he had led the Eomans from the river 
into the sandy desert, he rode off under a frivolous pretext and 
left them. The rolling columns of sand soon announced the 
approach of the enemy. The air was filled with a horrid din, 
the deep and dismal sound of the kettle-drums struck terror to 
the Eoman soldiers. When the Parthian line appeared, it 
gleamed like battalions of fire, for their polished breastplates 
and helmets were of Margian steel. The cavalry poured in 
their long arrows with fearful effect, and the Roman line was 
crowded together. The soldiers fell thickly on every side. Cras- 
sus ordered his son — the same that had served under Caesar in 
Gaul, and led the Gallic cavalry — to charge on the assailants. 
The youth pushed eagerly forward, but was soon surrounded, 
overpowered and slain. The soldiers, worn out with the 



1 Pint. Crass., 21. - Ibid. 

3 He had seven legions : 4000 cavalry and 1000 Gfallic cavalry. 



320 DEATH OF CKASSUS. [B. C. 53. 

heat and the dust, and blinded by the sand, were cut to 
pieces. Night put an end to the slaughter. 

8. Battle of Carrhae (b. c. 53). — The enemy galloped away, 
jeeringly shouting to the Eomans that they would give the 
general a night to bewail his son. Crassus, prostrated with 
fatigue and disappointed in his hopes for fame and gold, proved 
utterly helpless. Octavius and Cassius withdrew the army to 
Carrhae, abandoning the camp as well as the dead and wounded. 
The Parthian cavalry followed in pursuit, but the garrison of 
Carrhae came out to assist Orassus, and the army took refuge 
within its walls. Deeming the place indefensible, the Eomans 
set out the next day on their retreat ; but Surenas, the vizier of 
the Parthian king, fearing that they would escape, proposed 
an interview and invited Crassus to capitulate on favorable 
terms. The mutinous soldiers clamored for submission, and 
Crassus was compelled to yield to the outcry. The proconsul 
and his officers were treacherously seized and slain. A small 
remnant of the army, under Cassius, escaped to the hills and 
made their way back to Syria. Twenty thousand Eomans had 
been slain and ten thousand taken prisoners. 1 

9. Clodius and Milo. — Meanwhile at Eome matters had 
been daily growing worse. The disaster at Carrhae produced 
but a faint impression upon the politicians of the capital. 
Disorder and confusion had made such rapid strides that the 
best men began to contemplate the necessity of a dictatorship. 
It was evident that the rupture between the triumnrs was 
approaching. In b. c. 54, Julia died, to whom Pompejus was 
ardently attached. This broke one link that bound the trium- 
virs together. Caesar attempted to re-establish the ties of affinity, 
but Pompejus drew back and finally married the daughter of 
Q. Metellas Scipio. The death of Crassus, however, was the 
severest blow, for Caesar always felt that whatever else might 
happen, he could rely on Crassus. Pompejus made use of the 
tribunes to prevent the consular elections, and the year b. c. 53 



1 According to Appian, 90,000 were slain and taken prisoners ; the prisoners were 
kindly treated and aUowed to settle in the country. 



B. C. 52.] POMPEJUS APPOINTED SOLE CONSUL. 321 

opened with an interregnum. The city was a prey to the 
riotous bands of Olodius and Milo, and in b. c. 54 they both 
were candidates for office, the former for the praetorship, and 
the latter for the consulship. Their hired bands of gladiators 
fought in the public streets, and postponed the elections. Eiots 
were of frequent occurrence and blood flowed in the forum 
and public squares. 

10. Death of Clodius. — It happened that Milo was travel- 
ing on the Appian way in a carriage, accompanied by his wife, 
and attended by a retinue of servants, and, as usual, a band 
of armed gladiators. Near Bovillse, Clodius met him, and as 
the story goes, an affray ensued between their gladiators, in 
which Clodius was wounded. He took refuge in a tavern near 
by, but Milo gave way to his fury, attacked the house, caused 
Clodius to be dragged forth and slain. When the body of Clo- 
dius, which was left in the street, was found by a senator, Sex. 
Tedius, and carried to Eome, a tremendous excitement ensued. 
The multitude streamed towards the Palatine hill, where the 
body was exposed to public gaze. On the following morning, 
excited by the harangues of the tribunes, the people bore the 
corpse to the curia Hostilia, and having made a funeral pile of 
the benches, tables, books and papers, set fire to it so that not 
only the senate-house but many of the adjoining buildings were 
burned. The only refuge from this state of anarchy was in 
Pompejus and his army. A few honest statesmen were left, 
but the great parties had degenerated into factions and cabals. 
Even Cato said "that it was better to choose a master, than 
to wait for the tyrant that anarchy will impose upon us." On 
the 25th of February, b. c. 52, Pompejus was elected 'consul 
without a colleague/ 1 — a title that sounded a little less harsh 
than dictator. 

11. Pompejus' Third Consulship (b. c. 52). — From this 
time Pompejus threw off all pretence of an alliance with Caesar 
and devoted himself to the cause of the senate. Order was re- 
stored, the armed bands were dispersed, and Pompejus, in order 

1 Consul sine colleqa ; this was illegal, because the requisite ten years since his 
second consulship had not elapsed. 



322 THE TRIAL OF MILO. [B. C. 52. 

to soothe the anxiety of the senate, declared that he would 
rule the state in the interest of freedom. Pompejus carried 
two 1 laws against violence and bribery at elections, also 
measures to secure a speedy trial of those Engaged in the 
murder of Clodius, and^ in the burning of the senate-house. 
Condemnation fell especially on the friends of Caesar. The jury 
ventured to acquit most of the partisans of the senate except 
Milo. Cicero prepared an oration in Milo's defence ; but such 
disturbance arose during the trial that Pompejus stationed 
guards in the city, surrounded the court, and occupied all the 
approaches to the forum with armed soldiers, and sat himself 
in front of the treasury, to watch the proceedings. When 
Cicero arose to speak, the sight of the soldiery and the hostility 
of the people robbed him in a measure of that eloquence and 
wit which, on so many occasions, had been so effective. Milo 
was condemned, and went into exile at Massilia, where Cicero 
sent him a copy of the splendid oration that he intended to 
have delivered. Milo sarcastically remarked that it was fortu- 
nate that it had never been spoken. " Else," said he, " I should 
not be enjoying the delicious mullets of this place." 

12. The Measures of Pompejus. — Pompejus sided more 
and more with the optimates, and admitted Cato into his coun- 
sels. He carried a law that no magistrate should have a province 
till five years after the expiration of his term of office. From 
this measure Pompejus considered himself exempt, for he 
immediately caused his own command to be prolonged for 
another five years. The next law was aimed directly against 
Caesar. It provided that no one could be a candidate for a 
public office in his absence. It was very important for Caesar 
when his proconsular government expired, to return to Eome 
protected by the consular office. His personal safety required 
that he should be exempted from the law. His friends saw this, 
and they declared Caesar's desire for a second consulship, and 
demanded that he should be exempt from the law. Caesar's 
name was still powerful among the people. His brilliant suc- 

1 Be m and de ambUu. The first provided that the trial should last only four days ; 
that the advocates should speak only two or three hours each ; eulogies (laudationes) 
from distinguished men for the accused were forbidden. 



B. C. 51.] KUPTURE BETWEEN CAESAR AtfD THE SENATE. 323 

cesses in Gaul had produced a profound impression. Besides, 
his gold flowed in streams to the capital. Opposite the mag- 
nificent basilica erected by iEmilius Paulus, near the spot 
where the senate-house had stood, rose the Julian basilica, 
while a space was cleared for the Julian forum. Pompejus 
thought it best to yield, and Caesar was speedily exempted. 

13. Caesar's Position. — During the next two years events 
followed their course. The mere force of circumstances urged 
on the crisis. It was plain that civil war was impending. In 
b. c. 51 the consul M. Marcellus, a strict aristocrat, proposed 
that Caesar should be recalled March 1, B. c. 49. Caesar sought 
in every way to preserve his relations with Pompejus, and 
attain, peaceably if possible, the consulship for b. c. 48, already 
promised him at Luca. 1 He sought in every way to postpone 
the catastrophe which all saw was inevitable, overlooked what- 
ever he could ; but still adhered to this demand, that when his 
time expired in Gaul, he should have the second consulship 
promised to him by his. colleagues, and admissible by law. If 
Caesar was compelled to resign his office without immediately 
entering upon the consulship, that is, if there was an interval 
when he was out of office and consequently liable to impeach- 
ment, all knew what his fate would be, for Cato had already 
given notice that he would impeach him. While the coalition 
between Pompejus and the senate was forming, Caesar adopted 
every means to strengthen his power. He conciliated the Gauls, 
granted citizenship to Novum Comun, promised it to the inhab- 
itants of Gallia Transpadana, increased the pay of his soldiers, 
and lavished untold sums of money on the people at home by 
rearing splendid structures and by celebrating magnificent 



1 Caesar's province was conferred on him from March 1, b. c. 59. According to the 
Cornelian law, "by which a proconsul entered upon his province immediately after the 
termination of his first year of office, Caesar's successor ought to be nominated from the 
magistrates of b. c. 49, and could not, therefore, enter the province before Jan. 1st, b. c. 
48. Caesar therefore had ten extra months, on the ground that a magistrate continued 
until his successor arrived. According, however, to the law carried by Pompejus, that 
the magistrate did not enter upon the government of a province till five years after the 
expiration of his civil office, there was no difficulty in immediately filling any governor- 
ship from the magistrates who had gone out five years before. — Mommsen, die Rechsfrage 
z. Caesar, &c. According to Zumpt (Stud. Rom., p. 81 ff), Caesar could be recalled Nov. 
13, b. c. 50 ; the chief passages for fixing the time for the expiration of his term of office 
are : Cic. ad At., vii., 9, 4 ; De. p. Cons., 37 ; Sueton. Caes., 261. 



324 BUPTtJftE BETWEEK C^SAK AND THE SEKATE. [B. C. 5l. 

games. 1 Meanwhile the elections for B. c. 50 had taken place, 
and JEmilius Paulus and G. Marcellus were elected consuls. 
To watch his interests in the capital and manage the discussion 
with the senate, Caesar had bribed 2 one of the consuls and 
the able and eloquent but profligate and unprincipled Gajus 
Trebonius Curio, one of the tribunes, and when Marcellus pro- 
posed 3 that Caesar should be required to resign his command, 
Curio approved of the motion, but demanded that it should 
extend to Pompejus also, for in this way only could a constitu- 
tional state of things be restored. Caesar declared his consent 
to the proposal, and offered to resign at once if Pompejus would 
do the same. The only man who could possibly haye effected 
a reconciliation and given voice to the conservative element in 
the senate had been removed from the scene of action. Cicero 
had been sent (b. c. 52), according to the provisions of Pompejus' 
law, which required the governors of provinces to be selected 
from those who had held five years before an urban magistracy, 
to govern Cilicia. 

14. The Pompeians Defeated in the Senate. — Mean- 
while the senate tried to strengthen their military force by 
decreeing that Caesar and Pompejus each should furnish one 
legion for the Parthian war. Pompejus demanded back the 
legion which he had lent during the Gallic war. Caesar com- 
plied, and had therefore to give up both legions, not for the 
Parthian war, for they were at once sent to winter at Capua. 4 
Toward the end of the year Curio's proposal came up in the 
senate, and with 370 votes against 20 the senate resolved that 
both Pompejus and Caesar should resign their commands. 
Marcellus refused to announce the decree of the senate, and 
circulated a report that Caesar was marching on the city with 
four legions. He requested Pompejus, without being author- 
ized by the senate, to summon the two legions from Capua for 
the defence of the city, and to call out the Italian militia. 
Curio condemned these proceedings, and at the expiration of 
his tribunate 5 hastened to Caesar at Kavenna. 

1 Ludi funebres, in honor of his daughter. 

2 He is said to have paid Paulus 1500 talents = $1,509,003. 3 Mar., 50. 

4 Before their departure Caesar gave each soldier 250 drachma. 5 Dec. 10, b. c. 50. 



fc.C.49.] THE GREAT CIVIL WAB. 325 

14. Caesar's Ultimatum. — Caesar dispatched orders to 
his whole force in Gaul to set out for Bavenna, meanwhile send- 
inga letter by Curio to Rome, in which, after briefly stating his 
exploits and public services, and reminding the senate of his 
right to stand for the consulship, he promised to resign his 
command at the bidding of the senate if Pompejus would do 
the same. 1 Curio arrived in Rome Jan. 1, B. c. 49, the day on 
which the new consuls G-. Marcellus and G. Lentulus, both bit- 
ter opponents of Caesar, entered upon their office. The two 
tribunes, M. Antonius and Q. Cassius Longinus, 2 devoted friends 
of Caesar, were hardly able to obtain a hearing for Caesar's let- 
ter. A violent debate followed, and finally the motion of 
Seipio, Pompejus' father-in-law, was carried, that Caesar should 
disband his army and give up his province to his successors by 
a fixed day, 3 on pain of being declared a public enemy. The 
intercession of the tribunes availed nothing ; and threatened, as 
they declared they were, by Pompejus' soldiers, they fled in dis- 
guise to Caesar. On the 7th of January the senate invested the 
consuls with dictatorial power, and called upon all to take up 
arms for the republic. This was the crisis. Civil war was 
inevitable. The senate intrusted the command to Pompejus. 
Caesar, on receiving news of the senate's vote, harangued 4 his 
soldiers, the one 5 legion that was at Ravenna, and being assured 
of their support, crossed the Rubicon, 6 which separated his 
province from Italy, and entered Ariminum. "The die is 
cast/' said he ; "let us go where the gods and the injustice of 
our enemies call us." 



CHAPTER XH.IX. 

The Great Ciyil War (B. C. 49-46). 

1. The Legality of Caesar's Course. — In regard to the 
legality of Caesar's course, it has generally been said that law 

1 Caesar, Civ. Bel. 

2 The cousin of G. Cassius, Crassus' legate in the Parthian war. 3 July 1st. 

4 Cses., b. c. vii. 5 The thirteenth. a Some time in Jan. = Nov., b. c. 50. 



326 THE GKEAT CIVIL WAR, [b. C. 49. 

was technically on his side. That the senate had an undoubted 
right to appoint a governor to succeed Caesar March 1, b. c. 49, 
is unmistakable. 1 By skillful management Caesar had brought 
about a condition of things with which it was impossible for 
the senate to strictly follow the law. The situation of affairs 
then that preceded the actual outbreak of hostilities must be 
attributed to Caesar's inordinate ambition. The causes of the 
civil war and the tendency towards monarchy must be sought 
in the decay of the republican spirit, and in the increasing dis- 
organized condition of the government produced by the long 
years of revolution that had preceded. This Caesar, as a states- 
man, saw, and his greatest claim rested in the fact that he was a 
statesman. He knew well that the fires of the revolution had 
burned out. Cato might dream of the possibility of reviving 
the republic, but Caesar knew that the time had gone by. He 
saw distinctly that anarchy at home and abroad could only be 
suppressed by a permanent supreme ruler. It was plain to him 
that the throne was vacant. The only question was, who should 
be the monarch. True to his nature he seized opportunities. 
Events placed him where he stood, and the tide of events 
carried him on. 

2. Cicero's Efforts for Peace. — Cicero, who had returned 
from his province in November, b. c. 50, where he had won the 
title of imperator in a petty warfare against the native tribes, 
was waiting before the city with his lictors, hoping that he 
would be permitted to celebrate a triumph. In the meantime 
he had tried in every way, by writing to Caesar and entreating 
Pompejus, to effect a reconciliation. He saw plainly that 
whichever side was victorious the republic must perish. He 
fluctuated for a long time in his opinion, uncertain which way 
to turn. "For," says he, "Pompejus has the more honorable 
cause, but Caesar manages his with more address ; in short, I 
know whom to avoid, but not whom to seek." Caesar knew 

1 Mommsen admits that Caesar's term expired March 1, b. c. 49, but thinks, relying upon 
Cic. de Prov. Cons., that this was not a suitable time for Caesar's successor to enter upon 
his duties, since he must remain idle during January and February. But according to 
Pompejus' law of b. c. 52, five years were to elapse between a civil and military command, 
and the retiring consul must be idle not only two months, but five years. Cicero, for 
instance, entered upon his duties as proconsul in the middle of b. c. 51. 



B. c. 49.] 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



327 



well the influence of his name with the foreign subjects of the 
republic, and sought to win him to his side. Finally, still cher- 
ishing the hope of effecting a reconciliation, Cicero decided for 
Pompejus. In an interview 1 with him he made one more effort 
for peace, by trying to induce him to accept Caesar's proposals. 
Pompejus even sent private friends to Caesar at Ariminum to 
explain his motives, and Caesar took one more opportunity to 
offer such terms of accommodation that their rejection would 
place his opponents in the wrong. 2 When the answer came, 
requiring him to retire from Ariminum and dismiss his army, 
Caesar saw that all efforts for a peaceable solution of the troubles 
were in vain, and realizing how much was to be lost by delay, 
advanced on the road to Rome, ordering his other legions to 
follow him. 

3. Brundisium (b. c. 49). — The celerity of his marches 
was well known. Humors came that he had occupied Pisau- 
rum, then Ancona and Arretium, and then that his cavalry was 
before the gates of Eome. Consternation seized the people, and 
even Pompejus fled in such haste that his adherents accused him 
of not taking sufficient precaution for their defence, and ex- 
posing them, as they wildly imagined, 
to the onslaught of Caesar's Gallic 
barbarians. Caesar continued his 
march and arrived, February 14, at 
Corfinium. Domitius Ahenobarbus, 
Caesar's designated successor in the 
governorship of Transalpine Gaul, 
held the place with a strong army. 
Caesar had only two legions. Still 
Domitius considered all as lost, unless 
Pompejus should come to his assist- 
ance. The whole garrison surrendered, 
but Domitius and a few nobles made their escape by night. 
Pompejus had already given up Italy as lost, and hastened to 




BRUNDISIUM 

f % stadia 



Map of BRUNDisruai. 

(Showing the shape of the harbor 
and the location of the town.) 



1 December 10 and 25. Cic. Att. vii., 4, 2 ; 8, 4. 

2 Caesar promised to disband his army if Pompejus would depart to his province 
(Spain), and if the levies ceased in Italy. 



328 THE GEEAT CIVIL WAR. [b. C. 49. 

Brundisium with all his troops, followed by a train of sena- 
tors and nobles, to embark to Greece. When Caesar 1 arrived 
and began to besiege Brundisium, with great skill Pompejus 
withdrew 2 his army unharmed and landed it in Greece. Pom- 
pejus' followers openly expressed their dissatisfaction. Some 
hated his arrogance, others hoped to return and wage war in 
Italy. "We will starve Rome into submission/' said they, 
" and not leave one tile upon the roof throughout the country." 
" He left the city," said Cicero, " not because he could 
not defend it, but because this was his design from the 
first : to call to arms the barbarians, to lead savage nations 
into Italy, not as captives, but as conquerors. He determined 
to reign like Sulla — as a king over his subjects. There were 
many who applauded this atrocious design." Caesar tried to 
induce Cicero to return to Eome, but he preferred to remain 
in Campania, and Caesar respected his scruples. 

4. Ilerda (b. c. 49). — Caesar was unable to follow Pompejus 
from want of ships, and therefore returned to Rome to arrange 
matters there. A campaign of sixty days without a single serious 
engagement had made him master of Italy. Caesar entered the 
city, demanded the treasure hoarded in the temple of Saturn, 3 
which was popularly believed to be the gold that Camillus had 
taken from Brennus. A curse was pronounced against any 
one who used it except to repel a Gallic invasion. The 
tribune interceded, but Caesar pushed him aside. "The fear 
of a Gallic invasion is passed," said he. "I have subdued the 
Gauls." After arranging for garrisons to protect Italy 4 and 
taking measures to supply the city with corn, he prepared for 
the next campaign. Curio was sent with four legions to 
Sicily, and Valerius with one to Sardinia. Caesar himself, 
after first ordering his forces which he had assembled on the 
Rhone to proceed to Spain, set out himself for Spain about the 
middle of April. " I go," said he, " to engage an army without 

1 Caesar's army conei-ted of only nine legions of about 50,000 men ; he had set out 
with one legion and 330 cavalry. Pompejus was the recognized chief of the Roman state, 
and had all its revenue? and provinces at his disposal. His army consisted of the eeyen 
Spanish legions, and ten legions in Italy ; eminent men of his party set out to raise 
recruits. ' 2 March 17. 3 jErariv.m Sanciius. * 

* Italy was left under command of Antonius ; Rome under that of Lepidus. 



B. C. 48.] THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 329 

a general; I shall return to attack a general without an army." 
On his way thither, the old Greek city Massilia 1 shut its gates 
against him, and he left G. Trebonius and Decimus Brutus to 
press the siege, while he proceeded directly to Spain to con- 
duct the war against Pompejus' lieutenants, Afranius and 
Petrejus. At first he met with a serious reverse at Ilerda 
(Lerida), but he soon succeeded in compelling the Pompejans 
to surrender, dismissed them unharmed, and enrolled most of 
their soldiers into his own army. 2 On his return he received 
the surrender of Massilia. Meanwhile his lieutenants had 
been successful in Sardinia and Sicily. Curio passed over to 
Africa, which had been put in a state of defence by Atius 
Varus and by Juba, king of Numidia, who had sided with the 
Pompejans. Curio was slain in a battle on the Bragadas, 
which he had rashly hazarded, losing nearly the whole of his 
army. The death of Curio was an irreparable loss to Caesar, 
for he was a brave and skillful officer. The conquest of 
Sicily had thwarted Pompejus' attempt to starve Italy, while 
his general plan of the campaign — to have his Spanish and 
Macedonian armies meet on the Po and invade Italy — had been 
completely frustrated by the destruction of the Spanish army. 
5. Pompejus' Resources. — The great rendezvous of 
Pompejus' adherents was Macedonia. Thither came Cato, 
indignant that he had been left unsupported in Sicily ; Domi- 
tius from Massilia also came, and a large number of soldiers 
from the Spanish armies. Prom Italy emigration became quite 
popular among the aristocrats. 3 Pompejus had by no means 
been idle. He had the whole resources of the East at his disposal. 
Ships had been collected, his army had been increased to nine 
legions, and a cavalry force of seven thousand had been raised. 
Corn had been stored up to supply the army, and the fleet 
under Bibulus commanded the sea. Meanwhile Csssar was 
exerting every nerve to restore order in the capital and 



1 Domitius Ahenobarbus was in command, but lie escaped. 

2 M. Varro, who also commanded in Spain, was deserted by his troops and compelled 
to surrender. 

3 Cicero left Italy June 7 ; Cic. ad Fam. xiv., 7. 



330 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. [B. C. 48. 

throughout Italy. During his absence in Spain, he had been 
appointed dictator, on the motion of Lepidus, whom he had left 
in charge of the city. During the eleven days that he held the 
dictatorship, he carried laws to restore those condemned for 
civil offences, while Pompejus was in command of the city; 1 for 
the restoration of private credit, by which all fear of cancelling 
debts was removed, 2 and finally for the extension of full 
citizenship to the inhabitants of Gallia Transpadana. 3 

6. Battle of Dyrrhachium (b. c. 48). — Caesar had already 
ordered his troops to assemble at Brundisium. From here, on 
the 4th of January b. c. 48, he prepared to embark with six 
legions, greatly thinned by toil and sickness, and six hundred 
horsemen for the coast of Epirus. Caesar himself crossed with 
the first division, but when his fleet returned for the rest of the 
army, it was attacked by Bibulus; nearly thirty transports 
were captured and the rest shut up in the harbor of Brundi- 
sium. Caesar's position was critical, so much so that he 
determined to cross alone in a fisherman's boafc to Brundisium 
and bring his fleet and army over. This, however, proved not to 
be necessary, for M. Antonius made every effort to relieve him, 
and soon succeeded in landing some troops. Pompejus hesi- 
tated to give battle to Caesar's veteran army, and retired to the 
high ground near Dyrrhachium. Caesar proceeded at once to 
invest his position with works sixteen miles long, but famine 
began to be felt in his camp, and as the siege continued, his 
soldiers were obliged to make bread of grass. This did not dis- 
courage them. " We will eat the bark of trees," said they, 
"rather than allow Pompejus to escape us." Pompejus, how- 
ever, forced a passage through the lines, and Caesar was 
compelled to retire to Thessaly. 

7. Battle of Pharsalus (b. c. 48). — The Pompeians re- 
garded this as completely deciding the contest. The noble 
Romans threw off their reserve ; some advised Pompejus to 
re-enter Italy, others to reconquer Spain. The vast retinue of 

1 Those condemned under the lex Pompeja de ambitu. 

2 Lex Julia de pecuniis mutuis. 

3 Lex Julia de civitate Transpadanis danda. 



B. C. 48.] THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 331 

consulars, senators and generals were a great hindrance to 
any energetic and active operations. Some accused Pompejus 
of not wishing to conquer, and Donaitius asked how long 
Agamemnon, the king of kings, intended the war to last. The 
most insolent was Labienus, Caesar's old lieutenant, the only 
one who had deserted him. He swore that he would conquer 
his old general. The prisoners taken at Dyrrachium he ordered 
to be put to death. " We will have no peace/' said he, " until 
you bring us Caesar's head." The noble senators were so sure 
of victory that they began to dispute about the consulates and 
praetorships, and some even sent to take houses in the capital 
in the great squares, in sight of the people, for the next 
canvass. The tents of the grandees were strewn with leaves, 
silver plate stood on the table and the wine-cup circulated. 
These fashionable warriors formed a great contrast to Caesar's 
veterans. 1 At length Pompejus was impelled by the taunts of 
his noble warriors to follow Caesar. He moved southward 
from Larissa and pitched his camp on the Enipeus, not far 
from that of Caesar. When Pompejus hesitated to cross the 
stream and engage Caesar, 2 this excited great indignation 
among the aristocrats in his camp. Pompejus had to yield, and 
about noon on the 9th of August, 3 led down his army into the 
plains of Pharsahis (Fersala). The battle resulted in the com- 
plete annihilation of his army. The victory was so decisive, that 
the kings, cities and peoples, which had hitherto acted with 
Pompejus, joined Caesar. Pompejus fled in the beginning of 
the engagement with a few followers to Lesbos and thence to 
Egypt, where he met a speedy and sad fate. He was landing 
in the harbor of Pelusium, when he was assassinated by order 



1 Cicero (ad Fam. vii., 3, written b. c. 46), aptly sums up the situation : "I no sooner 
arrived in this army than I repented of what I had done, not so much from the danger 
to which I was exposed, as from the many faults which I discovered among them. First, 
the forces were neither large nor warlike ; then, except the general and a few others, 
they carried on the war with such a rapacious spirit, and breathed such principles of 
cruelty, that I could not even think upon our success without horror. To this I must 
add that some of our most distinguished officers were deeply involved in debt. In short, 
there was nothing good but the cause. Despairing of success, I advised (what I had 
always recommended), that proposals of accommodation should be offered. Failing in 
this, I endeavored to persuade Pompejus at least to avoid a general engagement.' 1 

- C?esar had about 22,000 men ; Pompejus had 47,000 and 7,000 horse, 

3 June 6, of the Julian calendar. 



332 THE GEEAT CIVIL WAE. [B. C. 48. 

of the Egyptian court, which hoped in this way to win 
Caesar's favor. 1 Many of the conservative party, among whom 
was Cicero, made peace with the new monarch. The ultras, 
however, would hear of no compromise. They knew that the 
republic had perished, but they could never be reconciled to 
the monarchy. 

8. The Alexandrine War (b. c. 48-47). — Caesar never 
failed to follow up his successes. He left a few soldiers to 
watch Cato in Illyricum and hastened himself in pursuit of 
Pompejus. When he reached Alexandria the head of Pompejus 
was presented to him. He turned from it in horror, and 
ordered the remains of his great rival to be honorably buried. 
Caesar, true to his plan of settling the condition of affairs in 
whatever part of the empire lie happened to be, divided the 
Egyptian kingdom, agreeably to the will of the last king Auletes, 
between his two children, Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy. 
This decision was opposed by the guardians of the young king, 
and Caesar was involved in a war which detained him nine 
months at Alexandria.- His position for a time was very criti- 
cal, but soon reinforcements 2 arrived, Ptolemy was defeated, 3 
and the kingdom of Egypt was restored to Cleopatra and a 
younger brother, also named Ptolemy. 

9. Battle of Ziela (b. c. 47).— During Caesar's stay at 
Alexandria strange rumors of his fate spread, and the wildest 
confusion prevailed throughout the empire. Italy greatly needed 
the monarch, but before returning to Rome he crossed to Asia 
Minor and crushed the rebellion which Pharnaces, the son of 



1 In Egypt the line of the Ptolemies became extinct with the death of Alexander. The 
eldest son of Lathynis was proclaimed king under the title of Ptolemy XL, surnamed 
Auletes. This was ratified by Rome b. c. 59. His arbitrary measures caused his expul- 
sion, and he fled to Rome b.c. 58. He was restored by Gabiniu^, the proconsul of 
Syria, and reigned until b. c. 51. He left a daughter, the celebrated Cteopatra, and two 
sons. His will directed that the throne should be shared by Cleopatra and her eldest 
brother Ptolemy XII. The execution of the will was left to the senate, which apoointed 
Pompejus guardian. The brother and sister married each other, according to Egyptian 
custom, and reigned until the guardians of the brother expelled Cleopatra from the 
throne. She fled to Syria and collected an army to invade Egypt. Ptolemy, and his 
guardian Pothinus, lay with an army at Pelusium to protect the eastern frontier, when 
Pompejus cast anchor in the harbor and sent a request to the king to allow him to land. 
The Egyptian court had been informed of the disaster at Pharsalus. Ptolemy feared that 
Pompejus would instigate a rebellion in the Egyptian army, in which many of his old 
soldiers served, and thought it safer to have him put to death. 
3 Cses, b. Alex, 3 March 27, b. c. 47. 



B.C. 47.] THE GEEAT CIVIL WAR. 333 

Mithridates, had raised. He defeated 1 Pharnaces at Ziela and an- 
nounced the victory to the senate in three words : Veni, vidi, vici. 
I came, I satv, I conquered. "Happy was Pompejus," said he, 
"to have become great at so cheap a rate, for it took him many 
years to subdue Mithridates." 

10. Condition of Affairs at Rome. — Caesar hastened to 
Kome, which sadly needed his presence. His lieutenant Anto- 
nius and the tribune Dolabella, 2 Cicero's son-in-law, thinking, 
perhaps, that their master would never return, had created 
great confusion. The tenth legion, stationed at Capua, muti- 
nied and killed their officers, and marched to Eome. They 
well knew that their services were needed for the African cam- 
paign, and therefore thought they could make their own terms. 
Caesar mustered them in the Campus Martius, and approached 
them unattended. He asked them to declare their grievances. 
At the sight of their- beloved leader their murmurs died away, 
and they could only demand their discharge. "Citizens," 3 re- 
plied he, "I discharge you. You have had sufficient fatigue and 
wounds. I release you from your oaths. As to the presents, 
you shall be paid to the last sesterce." The spell was broken. 
The soldiers stood for a moment mute, confounded, and then 
entreated the general to receive them back to favor. Caesar 
relented, but he caused the ringleaders to be executed. With 
the same firm hand Caesar restrained his adherents. He 
refused to allow a system of confiscation. Pompejus' prop- 
erty was confiscated, but Antonius, who outbid all others at the 
sale, was compelled, much to his disappointment, to pay the 
price. Caesar was named dictator for an indefinite time, 4 with 
full powers of making peace or war. The statues of Pompejus 
and Sulla, which the people had thrown down when the tidings 
of the battle of Pharsalus reached Eome, were ordered to be 



1 The battle took place Aug. 2, b. c. 47. Caesar gave the kingdom of Bosporus to Mith- 
ridates of Pergamus, with a part of Galatia; over the rest of Galatia he placed Dejotarus; 
Cappadocia he gave to Ariobazanes. 

2 Caslius Rufus, the friend and correspondent of Cicero, attempted to create a diver- 
sion in favor of the Pompeians. Milo was summoned from exile, and he summoned the 
gladiators and shepherds to arms. The revolt was soon crushed. Caelius was killed at 
Thurio. 

3 See p. 20, n. 2, * Like Sulla's dictatura rei publicce constituendce. 



334 THE GKEAT CIVIL WAR. [B. C. 46. 

restored. Caesar indulged in no vengeful spite against his foes, 
but sought to conciliate all parties, 

11. Battle of Thapsus (b. c. 46). — When order was 
restored in Italy Caesar departed to crush the remnant of the 
Pompeians in Africa. They had congregated 1 from all sides to 
Africa, and had enlisted Juba in their cause by promising him 
the whole of Africa. Scipio, Pompejus' father-in-law,- was 
elected commander in chief; for the Scipios, it was said, would 
always conquer in Africa. Cato, however, was the moving 
spirit. His energy and self-devotion formed a sad contrast to 
the selfishness and fanaticism of his colleagues. When Caesar 
appeared off the coast and boldly summoned them to surrender 
to " Caesar the imperator," they replied, " there is no imperator 
here but Scipio," and put the messenger to death. Caesar 
soon effected a landing, and after some serious 2 reverses gained 
the bloody battle of Thapsus, on the 6th of April, b. c. 46. 
Fifty thousand of the enemy covered the field, while Caesar lost 
not more than fifty. All Africa submitted except Utica. 

12. Death of Cato. 3 — Cato commanded in Utica. When 
he saw there was no means of resistance he restrained the fury 
of the soldiers, aided those who wished to escape, dismissed his 
senate of " three hundred," interceded with the victor for the 
lives of others, but disdained all intercession for himself. "It 
is for the conquered to turn suppliants," said he, "and for 
those who have done an injury to beg pardon. For my part I 

1 They collected 14 legions and 120 elephants ; Cses. b. Afr. 1. 
a The repulse at Kuspina, Jan. 4, b. c. 46. 

3 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

M. Porcius Cato, tr., 
m. Livia. 



M. Porcius Cato Uticensis, Porcia m. 

pr.vB. c 54. m. 1. Atelia. ■ L. Domitius. 

2. Marcia. Ahenobarbus. 



Porcia m. 

1. M. Bibulus. M. Porcius Cato, Porcius Cato. Porcia. 

2. M. Brutus. died b. c. 42, 



B.C. 46.] (L3ESAR RULES AS MONARCH. 335 

have been unconquered through life, and superior in the things 
I wish to be. Caesar is the vanquished, the falling man, being 
clearly convicted of those designs against his country which he 
has long denied." After taking a bath and supping with his 
friends and the magistrate of Utica he held a long conversation 
on the paradoxes of the Stoics, and then withdrew and read in 
his bed the dialogue of Plato on the immortality of the soul. 
When he sought for his sword at the head of his bed and did 
not find it, he called a slave and asked for it. "Now," said he, 
" I am master of myself." He re-read the Phaedo twice, again 
slept, and then sent to the sea-shore to see if his friends had 
departed. He sighed when informed that the sea was stormy, 
and soon sent again to see if his friends had put back. When 
the birds began to sing he fell asleep again. Soon after he arose, 
took his sword and plunged it into his body. Thus perished 
the only free and unconquered man, and the ancient republic 
expired with him. 1 The few others that escaped the field of 
battle, such as Labienus, Gnseus and Sextus Pompejus, departed 
for Spain, and like Sertorius sought for a last refuge in the 
mountains of that still half-independent land. Numidia was 
made a province under the name of Africa, 2 and its government 
entrusted to Sallust the historian. 



~ »e ■♦-•» 



CHAPTER Ij. 

Cjssar Bules as Monarch. 

1. Powers Conferred upon Caesar. — The new monarch 
returned to Home. 3 The great struggle was over ; the republic 
that had lasted five hundred years had perished, and the pro- 
cess was to be reversed by which the magistrate had been 
stripped of his authority. 4 All power was to centre again in 
one man. When the news of the battle of Thapsus reached 

» jPlut, Qato ? 68 ff. 2 See p. 171 ; also map, p. 217, 3 July 35, b. c. 46, 4 See p. a?. 



336 CAESAR EXILES AS MONARCH. 

Eome the senate decreed a supplication for forty days. Caesar 
was nominated dictator for ten years, and finally, in b. c. 44, 
for life. He was invested with the powers of the censor under 
the name of pr defect us morum for three years, and in b. c. 44, 
for life. This enabled him to regulate the senate to his will. 
The consulship was conferred upon him for five years, and 
finally for ten. The tribunitian power was bestowed upon him 
for life, as well as the first place in the senate and the title of 
imperator. Caesar was already pontifex rnaximus, but now he 
became a member of the second great priestly college, that of 
the augurs. To these offices was added the right of deciding 
on war and peace, the disposal of the armies and treasures of 
the state, the nomination of the provincial governors, as well as 
of a part of the magistrates of the city, and finally, the right of 
raising new men into the patrician order. 1 A statue was 
erected to him in the capitol, inscribed to " Caesar the demi- 
god." 2 He was to sit on a golden chair in the senate-house, his 
image was to be borne in the procession of the gods, and the 
seventh 3 month of the year was changed in honor of him from 
Quintilis to Julius. Finally he was styled "father of his coun- 
try," a title which had been conferred by decree upon Camillus, 
by acclamation upon Cicero. 4 

2. Caesar's Triumphs. — Caesar celebrated his victories 
in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa. Eome had witnessed 
many magnificent triumphal processions, but none like 
Caesar's. Behind his triumphal car, drawn by the sacred 
milk-white steeds and attended by seventy- two lie tors, walked 
the captives from the East; the Gallic Vercingetorix ; the son of 
Juba; and Arsinoe, the sister of Cleopatra. According to cus- 
tom, the soldiers who followed his car sang derisive songs, 5 
while the people gazed with wonder and terror on the Gallic 
and African barbarians who served under his banner. 6 Caesar 
richly rewarded his soldiers ; each received five thousand 

1 There were not more than fifteen or sixteen patrician gentes. a y]ixi6eu>. 

3 The fifth of the old calendar. 

4 No effort has been made to distinguish between the powers conferred by the senate 
and those conferred by the people. 

5 A variation of the well-known N?enia: rex eris si recte fades, si non fades non eris. 

6 The treasures amounted to 65,000 talents = $75,000,000. There were 2822 crowns. 



C^SAR RULES AS MONARCH. 337 

denarii. 1 The people 2 were rewarded with the three hundred 
sesterces already promised them, and one hundred in addition 
for the delay, as well as with corn and oil. The citizens were 
feasted at splendid banquets, at which vast multitudes reclined 
at twenty-two thousand tables, each with three couches. When 
the multitude was satiated with wine and food, then the shows 
of the circus and theatre and the combats of wild beasts and 
gladiators began. Above the combats of the amphitheatre floated 
for the first time the awning of silk, the immense velarium of a 
thousand colors, woven from the rarest and richest product of 
the East, to protect the people from the sun. 

3. Caesar the Imperator. — Caesar tried to reconcile party 
interests. He avoided all measures to exasperate the fallen aris- 
tocracy. He did not triumph for his victory at Pharsalus. He 
showed respect for the memory of Pompejus, and avoided all 
processes against suspected persons. He granted immunity to 
the common soldiers, and to all officers who had not taken part 
with the opposition since the battle of Ilerda. His own friends 
murmured when they saw that his rule was equal and just to 
all, for they had hoped for the days of Sulla and Cinna. Caesar, 
however, remained true to the great principles with which he 
had set out — alleviation of the condition of the debtor, trans- 
marine colonization, equalization of rights, and the emanci- 
pation of the executive from the power of the senate. Once 
more the military and supreme judicial and administrative 
power was combined and centred as in the times of the kings, 
in one man. This concentration of power the name of imper- 
ator 3 expressed more aptly than any other. After five hundred 
years the primitive regal office was re-established. The senate 4 

1 About $1000. 

2 The infima plebs : promised in a contio when he took the money from the aerarium 
sanctius. 

3 Imperium plenum : This is Mommsen's view, and it seems very probable, although 
not confirmed by any of the original, authorities. Lange (vol. iii., p. 461 f), however, 
questions it ; the name is found first on all the coins struck by Cresar after his own name. 
It was the restrictions in regard to the temporal and the local limitation of power, 
i. e., inside or outside of the pomerium, the collegiate arrangements, the co-operation of 
the senate, or of the people in certain cases, that distinguished the consul from the king. 

4 Its number was increased to nine hundred; the number of quaestors, from whom the 
senators were selected, was raised to forty, in order to keep it up to this number. The 
new members were selected from the equites, noble foreigners from Spain and Gaul, 
officers, &c. 



338 (L3ESAR EULES AS MONARCH. 

sank once more to its old position — the advisory council of the 
king. The whole executive power fell into the hands of the 
monarch. The financial administration 1 was no longer man- 
aged by the senate, but by Caesar and his cabinet. In regard 
to judicial matters the different jury-commissions were retained, 
but the jurymen were selected from the senators and equites. 

4. Caesar's Work. — Caesar put an end to the anarchy of 
the capital, checked the club system, reduced the recipients of 
the largesses of corn from 320,000 to 150,000, and strengthened 
the laws in regard to crime and violence. He commenced 
other vast projects, as the building of a new senate-house, a 
theatre to rival that of Pompejus, a public Latin and Greek 
library, and laid out a plan for changing the course of the Tiber, 
by which the Campus Vaticanns^vould be transferred to the left 
bank and could be substituted for the Campus Martius, while 
the latter could be used as sites for public and private 
edifices. This improvement would have drained the Pomptine 
marshes, and the capital would have been supplied with a bet- 
ter seaport. Agriculture was encouraged, efforts were made to 
develop a flourishing middle class by reviving the Licinian laws, 
and laws were enacted in regard to luxury, usury, bankruptcy, 
and debt. 

5. He Aims to Fuse the Empire into One Body 
Politic. — One of Caesar's aims was to obliterate the political 
distinction between Italy and the provinces. When Cisalpine 
Gaul received full citizenship its former place was taken by 
Transalpine Gaul. Latin rights were conferred on the colonies 
in Africa, Spain, and Gaul. 2 The old law that no troops could 
be stationed in Italy was extended to the provinces, and hence- 
forth soldiers were stationed on the frontiers only. In this way 
the provinces all entered into a state of preparation which paved 

1 The leasing of the direct taxes was abolished. Indirect taxes were collected by- 
slaves and freedmen, from which in time grew the procurators. There were fourteen 
provinces, 7 European— Hispania, citerior and ulterior, Gallia Transalpina, Gallia 
Cisalpina with Illyricum, Macedonia with Greece, Sicily, Sardinia with Corsica— five 
Asiatic, Asia, Bithynia and Pontus, Cilicia with Cyprus, Syria, Crete — two African, Cyrene 
and Africa. To these Caesar added Gallia Lugdunensis, Belgica, and Illyricum. Caesar 
thoroughly remodeled the system of administration ; Decumm was limited to Africa and 
Sardinia ; middlemen were set aside, and the governors were responsible to Caesar. 

2 The new colonies in Gaul were Baeterae (Beziers), Arelate {Aries), Arausio {Orange)^ 
yoruni Julii {Frejus). See colored map, No. 3. 



Caesar's assassination. 339 

the way for the future political equalization of the empire. 1 
Caesar undertook the codification of the laws, a work already 
contemplated by Cicero, commenced a survey of the empire 
and reformed the calendar. 2 



CHAPTER Xil. 



Cesar's Assassination — Antonius Aims to Grasp the 

Power. 

1. The Spanish War (b. c. 45).— In the midst of these 
reforms Caesar was interrupted by an insurrection in Spain. 
Labienus and the sons of Pompejus had raised a large army there, 
and the revolt had become so serious that Caesar was obliged 
to set out in person. The struggle was protracted for several 
months, but Caesar's good fortune triumphed. On the field of 
Munda, 3 after a hard fought battle in which* thirty thousand of 

1 Under the republic the magistrates of the city of Rome had been magistrates of the 
empire, but now they were only first among those of the many municipalities of the em- 
pire, and the consulship was merely a dignitary post, which preserved importance 
because a governorship was attached to it. 

a This was effected by his authority as chief pontiff, with the aid of the astronomer 
Sosigenes. The Romans had hitherto had the lunar year of 355 days. Every second year 
a month of 22 or 23 days had been intercaled alternately. This intercalation was too 
much by about 2 days. The rectification of the error was left to the pontiffs. They 
had arranged the intercalation so carelessly, shortened or lengthened the year to suit 
their pleasure or extend the year of office of a favorite, or to postpone the day when a 
note became due, that the confusion was so great that the Roman year anticipated the 
true time by 90 clays, and therefore the consuls who were supposed to enter on their office 
Jan. 1,'b. c. 46, really entered Oct. 13th, b. c. 47. An intercalary month of 23 days had been 
inserted after Feb. 24, B.C. 46, but this left the year three intercalary months of 22, 23 
and 22 days, i. e., 67 days from the true time. This deficiency Caesar inserted as two 
months between Nov. and Dec, which addition can be regarded as the 29 days of Jan., 
28 days of Feb., and the 10 days which the solar year differed from the lunar. This year 
was called " the year of confusion " (annus confusionis). Reckoned from Jan. 1, b. c. 46, 
this year consisted of 445 days, but reckoned from Mar. 1, the beginning of the civil 
year, of 365 days, just one solar year. From b. c. 45 the extra ten days which were added 
to the lunar vear were so arranged on account of the festivals that 2 were inserted after 
Jan. 28, 1 after April 25, 1 after June 28, 2 after Aug. 28, 1 after Sept. 28, 1 after Nov. 28, 
and 2 after Dec. 28. These days were all regarded as dies fasti non comitiales. The year 
b. c. 45 received an intercalary day after Feb. 24 (ante diem bissextum Kal. Martins), and 
henceforth one day was to be added in the same manner every four years. [The 24th of 
February was, on the Roman mode of reckoning backwards, the sixth before the kalends 
(the 1st) of March; and the inserted day was called the second-sixth, (bissextus) before the 
kalends.] There was a slight error in Caesar's calendar, and this in the course of cen- 
turies amounted to 10 days, and was corrected by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, and 
provisions were made to prevent similar errors in the future. The reformed calendar 
was adopted by England in 1752. 

3 According to Hiibner (Jahn's Jahrb. 1862, p. 34), Munda was north of the modern 
lipnda on the road between Cordova and Gibraltar, 



340 SIGKS OF DISCONTENT. [B. C. 44. 

the enemy perished, he gained a crowning victory. 1 On his 
return to Kome in September he celebrated another triumph, 
followed as usual by games, festivals, and gladiatorial shows. 
New marks of honor were conferred upon him by the servile 
senate. 2 He was to sit on a golden chair in the senate and 
at the public games, clad in a triumphal robe, and a diadem 
set with gems was decreed to him. 

2. Signs of Discontent. — Amidst this obsequiousness of 
Caesar's adherents there was an undertow of discontent. A 
rumor spread that he was intending to assume the name of 
king. This name from the days of Tarquinius had been hate- 
ful to the people. The multitude felt that a hopeless servitude 
had commenced, while Caesar chafed under the restraint of 
public opinion, and his temper became capricious and arrogant. 
Conspiracies were formed against his life ; but still he could 
never be induced to surround himself with a permanent body- 
guard, for "it is better to die at once," said he, "than to live 
always in fear of death." His mind was filled with far other 
thoughts than the taking care of his life. Yearning to retrieve 
the disaster at Carrhae, he began preparations for a war against 
the Parthians. But the Sibylline oracle had declared that 
Parthia could only be conquered by a king. One day as he was 
returning from the Latin festival on the Alban Mount, he was 
hailed as king. Stifled murmurs rose from the multitude. 
Caesar exclaimed, " I am no king, but Caesar." His friends 
were not satisfied. At the Lupercalian feast, on the 15th of 
February, when he was seated on his gilded chair before the 
rostra, Antonius offered him a diadem, but Caesar rejected it 
saying, "I am not king; the only king of the Komans is 
Jupiter." A few days after, his statues were crowned with 
royal diadems. The tribunes removed the diadems and prose- 
cuted those who had saluted him king. The people called 
the tribunes Brutuses, because Brutus had expelled the king, 
but Caesar deposed them from office. 



" Varus, Labienus, and Gnseus Pompejus perished ; Sextus Pompejus escaped. The 
battle took place March 17, b. c. 45. 

" 2 The Romans made jests of the foreigners whom Caesar had admitted to the senate. 
Placards requested the public not to show the senators the way to the senate. 



B. C. 44.] PLOT AGAINST C^ESAE'S LIFE. 341 

3. Plot Against Caesar's Life. — Still, in spite of Caesar's 
moderation there were many who cherished bitter hostility 
towards him. The idea that one man was to rule oyer them 
rankled in their breasts. When senators came to inform him 
that they had decreed him some extravagant honors, en- 
grossed as he was in other things, he did not rise to receive 
them but said, "there was more need to retrench his honors 
than to enlarge them." This seeming haughtiness rendered the 
senate furious. A plot was formed for his destruction which 
embraced sixty or seventy conspirators. Many 1 of them had 
been pardoned by Caesar and raised to offices of rank and 
honor. I Cassius was said to be the most active conspirator. 
He had competed for office with Brutus, and both having set 
forth their claims, Caesar said, " Cassius assigns the better rea- 
sons, but I cannot refuse Brutus." Cassius needed the charm 
of a great name to sanction the deed. M. Junius Brutus, the 
nephew and son-in-law of Cato, who pretended to trace his lin- 
eage from the founder of the republic, gave this name. Brutus 
was an ardent student of the Stoic philosophy; he had a 
rugged and eccentric nature, a wild yearning for effort, for 
painful sacrifice ; but in practical life he was feeble and irreso- 
lute. To him the conspirators looked, and when they saw that 
he hesitated, billets were thrust into his hands, inscribed with 
the words : " Brutus, thou sleepest ; thou art not Brutus ! " To 
the statue of the ancient Brutus was affixed a paper with the 
words, "Would that thou wert now alive!" The rumor got 
abroad that Caesar's friends intended to obtain a decree from 
the senate to confer upon him the title of king over foreign 
subjects. This was to come up in a meeting of the senate 
which was to be held March 15, to make the necessary arrange- 
ments for the Parthian war. This rumor probably hastened 
the long contemplated action of the conspirators, and it was 
agreed to assassinate Caesar on the ides of March. 

4. Assassination of Caesar.— Meanwhile rumors of the 
plot got abroad. The pale looks and agitated demeanor of the 

1 D. Brutus was appointed governor of Cisalpine Gaul ; Trebonius had been gover- 
nor in Asia ; G. Cassius had been praetor ; Casca and Cimber had received marks of 
honor. 



342 c jesar's ASSASSINATION". [b. c. 44. 

conspirators excited even the suspicion of Caesar, for he said 
one day to his friends, "What think you of Cassius ? I do not 
like his pale looks." Prodigies and warnings were not wanted. 
Men spoke of lights in heaven, strange noises by night, and of 
the apparition of a solitary bird in the forum. Strabo speaks 
of battalions of fire in the air, and Suetonius tells that the 
horses which Caesar had let loose at the Rubicon would not 
eat, but shed tears. A soothsayer warned Caesar of the 
ides of March. His wife entreated him not to attend the 
meeting of the senate on that day. She had dreamed a fear- 
ful dream, and the auspices too were unfavorable. The rem- 
nant of Soman superstition 1 in Caesar's mind had nearly 
prevailed when the raillery of D. Brutus, who had come to 
escort him, dispelled the show of irresolution. The conspira- 
tors well knew that delay would be fatal. They were alarmed 
every moment at floating hints, and even in spite of their care, 
a man thrust a paper into Caesar's hand on his way to the 
senate chamber. He thought it a petition and held it unread 
in his hand. To the augur he said, " The ides of March are 
come." "Yes," replied the augur, "but they are not yet 
passed." The senate was already seated when Caesar entered, 
and the conspirators crowded around his chair. Cimber solic- 
ited the recall of his brother from exile, the others united in 
the solicitation. Displeased at their importunity Caesar rose 
from his chair ; Cimber pulled the robe from Caesar's shoulders, 
while Casca, who stood behind, gave the first blow. Caesar 
caught the handle of the dagger and said, "Villain! Casca, 
what dost thou mean ? " Casca called for help ; Caesar de- 
fended himself for a time, but when he saw Brutus among his 
assailants, he exclaimed, "Thou too, Brutus!" and drew his 
robe over his face and fell pierced by twenty-three daggers at 
the foot of Pompejus' statue. 2 

5. The Conspirators have no Plan. — The conspira- 
tors had made no adequate preparation for carrying out their 



1 Even Caesar was superstitious : at the battle of Pharsalus he prayed to the gods 
whom he derided ; he crawled on his knees up the temple of Venus ; he appealed to the 
omens before crossing the Rubicon. 

3 The senate met in Pompejue' theatre, 



b. c. 44.] Cesar's assassination. 343 

plan to restore the republic. They hoped the senate would 
ratify the act, but when they looked round the hall was empty. 
When Brutus rushed to the forum to harangue the people, 
his voice was drowned in tumultuous cries. There was a gen- 
eral feeling of consternation, no one knowing on whom the 
next blow w r ould fall, or whether riot and massacre were to 
begin again. The indifference of the people, whose instinct 
told them that they had nothing to gain from Caesar's death, 
tilled the conspirators with dismay. Lepidus, as proconsul, 
was before the gates of the city with an army, and a large 
number of Caesar's old soldiers were in the city waiting for 
assignments of land. The result was that the liberators as they 
called themselves had to take refuge in the capitol, offering 
as a pretext that they were going to return thanks to Jupiter 
for their success. Here they were joined by the small remnant 
of the aristocratic party. Cicero was one of the first to come 
to them,, and advised that the senate should be convened. 
This they dared not do, but proposed instead to empower M. 
Antonius * to restore the republic. 

6. Amnesty Declared and Caesar's Acts Confirmed. 
— In the first alarm Anttmius 2 had escaped in disguise to his 
house. During the night he had communicated with Lepidus, 
and had secured Caesar's private papers as well as his treasure of 
seven million sesterces. Hitherto Antonius had been known as 
the minister and favorite companion of Caesar, but now he was 
about to display the arts of a consummate intriguer. He de- 

1 Some of the conspirators had proposed to assassinate Antonius also, but Brutus 
had protested. 

2 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

M. Antonius, triumvir, 

m. Octavia, sister of Augustus. 



Antonia major, Antonia minor, 

m. L. Domitius Ahenobbarbus. m. Nero Claudius Drusus. 



Claudius I. 



Cn. Dom. Ahenobbarbus. Domitia Lepida, 

m. M. Val. Missal. Barbatus, 

Missalina, wife of Claudius, 



344 c^sak's funeral obsequies. [b. c. 44. 

clared his adherence to the republic ; the senate was convened 
on the 17th of March, and it was voted, under the lead of Cicero, 
that amnesty should be declared and the acts x of Caesar rati- 
fied. The conspirators came down from the capitol, a recon- 
ciliation took place, and Caesar's assignment of the provinces was 
confirmed. 2 This reconciliation, however, was only a pretence, 
and Antonius hoped to crush the conspirators long before they 
could assume their commands. j 

7. Caesar's Will and Funeral Obsequies. — First Anto- 
nius made public Caesar's will Gajus Octavius, the son of Caesar's 
sister's daughter, was adopted and declared his heir. Legacies 
were left to many of the conspirators. His gardens beyond 
the Tiber were bequeathed to the people, and every citizen 
was to receive three hundred sesterces. This liberality over- 
whelmed the people with gratitude, shame and indignation. 
The funeral obsequies followed. 3 The funeral pyre was erected 
in the Campus Martins ; the body, concealed from public gaze, 
was laid in a glittering shrine in the forum ; a waxen effigy 
which turned in every direction, exhibited the twenty-three 
wounds. The people, deeply moved by the sad spectacle before 
them, were still further excited by dramatic representations of 
the deaths of Agamemnon and Ajax, caused by their nearest 
relatives. Last of all, the consul Antonius pronounced that 
marvellous oration, 4 which excited the fury of the people to 
the utmost. They rushed through the streets to the houses of 
the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius had fled from the city; 
the others dared not show themselves in public. The success 
of Antonius was complete. Still acting his part as a consum- 
mate dissembler he counselled measures of moderation ; pro- 
posed that Sextus Pompejus should be recalled, and just when he 
was expected to ask for the dictatorship he proposed its aboli- 
tion. The joy of all was great ; but they soon found that they 
were subject to a new and more capricious power. Antonius 
pretended that his life was in danger, and asked for a body- 
guard, which the senate blindly granted. The senate had 

x Acta Csesaris. 

2 Cisalpine Gaul was allotted to D. Brutus ; Macedonia, to Marcus Brutus ; Asia, to 
Trebonius ; Bithynia, to Cimber ; and Syria, to Cassius. 8 On the same day probably. 

* Tua illapulchra laudatio, tua miseratio, tua cohortatio, Cic. Phil, ii., 36, 



B.C. 44.] 



Caesar's funeral obsequies. 



345 



already confirmed Caesar's acts ; Antonius caused the sanction 
to be extended to acts which Caesar had merely contemplated. 
Antonius being in possession of Csesar's private papers, began 
to use them for conferring honors on this one, banishing that 
one, and when no vestige of a document could be found, he 
fabricated what he wanted. Caesar's disposition of the prov- 
inces was reversed. 1 " The tyrant is dead," said Cicero, " but the 
tyranny still lives." Antonius seemed on the point of obtain- 
ing all he wished, when a new actor appeared upon the scene 
to check him in his mad career. 2 



CHAPTER LIT. 
OcTAYIUS, THE HeIR OF CiESAR ClCERo's ACTIVITY The 

Second Triumvirate. 

1. The Popularity of Octavius. — Gajus Octavius 3 had 
been waiting at Apollonia to 
join Caesar on his way to the 
East, when a letter from his 
mother informed him of the 
dictator's assassination. He 
had enjoyed for years Caesars 
favor, and had been appointed 
his heir in his last testament. 
He immediately proceeded to 
Rome, determined to claim the 
inheritance, and boldly as- 
sumed his adopted name, Ga- 
jus Julius Caesar Octavianus. 
He arrived at Eome in the 
beginning of May, b. c. 44, and 
proceeded directly to the prae- 
tor, as one was required to do who assumed the rights and 

1 Syria was taken from Cassius and assigned to Dolabella ; Macedonia, Antonius 
took to himself. 

2 He had gained control over Lepidus by giving him his daughter in marriage and 
by nominating him pontifex maximus. 

3 The following table shows the relationship between Caesar and Octavius : 




G. Octavius. 



346 OCTAVIUS, THE HEIE OF CESAR, [b. C. 44. 

duties of an inheritance. When Antonius returned from the 
southern part of Italy where he had been to gain over 
Caesar's veterans, Octavius demanded the treasures of the dicta- 
tor that he might discharge the obligations of his uncle's will. 
Antonius replied that all was spent ; that it was not Caesar's, 
but the public money. Octavius, however, was not dismayed. 
With great adroitness he contrived to win the favor of all par- 
ties. He sold his own property and borrowed enough from his 
friends to discharge Caesar's legacies. The people were won by 
shows. Octavius rose rapidly in popular favor, and Antonius 
suffered in contrast. Octavius conciliated the senate, cajoled 
the liberators x into believing that he had no personal ambition, 
but was only seeking to defeat the selfish designs of Antonius. 
He saw in Cicero one who could secure him the support of the 
senate, without which it was impossible to make headway 
against Antonius. 

2. Cicero and Octavius. — At this time Cicero's mind 
was in a condition to receive his advances. Cicero knew that 
the two consuls, as well as the most distinguished men of the 
senatorial party, condemned the policy of Antonius. As early 
as June he himself had said that a coalition between Antonius 
and Octavius must be prevented. In short, he knew that there 
was material enough in the senate hostile to Antonius to con- 
trol its action. Therefore, when Octavius approached him 
with the promise that he would take no revenge on Caesar's 
murderers, and that he would be guided by the advice of the 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 
G. Julius Caesar m. Aurelia. Julia m. G. Marius. 



Julia m. (1) L. Pedius ; (2) L. Ptnarius. 



Julia m. Atius Balbus. 



G. J. Cesar, m. Cornelia, 
L. Pedius, Dictator. I dau. of Cdstna. 

Consul b. c. 43. Atia m. Octavius. 

Julia, wife of Pompejus. 

G. J. CLes. Oct. Augustus. 
1 Cicero has preserved a vivid picture of the indecision of the conspirators at this 
time. He left Italy in disgust, but was driven back by adverse winds and returned to 
Rome Aug. 31. He attempted to form a conservative party which should hold the bal- 
ance of power between the ultra republicans and the Caesarians. Brutus and Cassius 
had already left Rome, and Cicero met them at Velia on his return, 



B. C. 44-43.] CICERO AXD OCTAVIUS. AV 

senate, Cicero pretended to believe his professions, and re- 
appeared once more in the political arena with his old power 
and influence. In a series of speeches he roused the people, 
and exerted all his powers to consolidate all parties against An- 
tonius. When Antonius had departed from Home to drive D. 
Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul, Cicero induced the senate to 
declare him a public enemy. 1 

3. The Mutina War (b. c. 44-43). — Antonius, immediately 
on his arrival in Cisalpine Gaul, besieged Brutus in Mutina 
(Modena), and thus commenced the civil war. The senate, at 
Cicero's behest, associated Octavius in command with the new 
consuls Hirtius and Pansa, and bade them act against Antonius 
and aid Brutus. Antonius was defeated in two battles 2 in 
which both consuls were slain. D. Brutus was relieved and 
Octavius was left in sole command. Antonius retreated across 
the Alps and joined Lepidus. 

4. Activity of Cicero. — The senate believed the war was 
ended. Cicero was never more active. He was the life and 
soul of the government. He maintained an active correspond- 
ence with the chiefs in the provinces, praised the devotion of 
the soldiers, and inspired confidence in the desponding. "I 
have placed myself," said he, "at the head of the senate and 
people ; and since I have undertaken to lead the cause of 
freedom, I have not let a moment pass which could be em- 
ployed in providing for the general welfare." To his one 
great error — the belief that the republic could be restored, he 
clung to the last. His efforts were unremitting. He performed 
"mightier deeds in the toga than could be effected by arms." 
Circumstances were silently working against him. The two 
consuls were dead, and Octavius found himself at the head of 

1 Antonius summoned the senate for the 1st of September, when divine honors were 
to be decreed to Caesar, and invited Cicero to attend. He pleaded fatigue ; Antonius 
attacked him in a violent speech. The next day (Sept. 2), Cicero delivered the first 
of those great orations which were afterward entitled Philippics in imitation of those of 
Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon. The second Philippic was never delivered, but 
published in October, and was so composed as if delivered in reply and immediately after 
Antonius 1 speech, Sept. 19 ; the third was delivered Dec. 20, in the senate ; the fourth 
was delivered the same day to the people ; the fifth, in the senate, Jan. 1, b. c. 43 ; 
the sixth, to the people, Jan. 4 ; the others were delivered during the winter, the 
twelfth and last being pronounced April 22, in the senate. 

2 Forum Gallorum. (castel Franco) April 15, and Mutina, April 27 ; this was called the 
bellum Mutinense* 



348 THE MUEDEH Of CICERO. [b. C. 43 

a powerful army. Cicero hoped he would lead his legions to 
the assistance of Brutus and Plancus. Just at this time the 
aristocratic party in the senate began to lift its hand. The 
senate believed it could do without Octavius, and desired to 
thrust him aside, after having availed itself of his services so 
long as they were useful. The senate transferred the command 
to Brutus, and denied Octavius 1 the consulate. Then' Octa- 
vius' rough centurions came to Borne, entered the senate- 
chamber, and demanded the office for their chief. When the 
senate still hesitated, one of the centurions seized his sword 
and exclaimed, "If you will not give it to him, this will!" 
Octavius approached the city with his whole army ; the senate 
yielded. He was declared consul, with his cousin Q. Pedius 
as colleague. 

5. The Second Triumvirate. — Octavius, who was now 
in a position to treat with Antonius, proceeded with great 
caution. He procured a decree 2 which declared the murderers 
of Caesar to be outlaws. He made overtures to Antonius, and 
caused the decree against him and Lepidus to be rescinded. It 
was only with their aid that he could hope to triumph over 
the liberators. Accordingly Antonius and Lepidus were 
invited to an interview near Bononia, 3 which resulted in the 
formation of what is usually called the " Second Triumvirate." 
The triumvirs were to rule the state for five years, appoint all 
the magistrates, and assign the provinces. 4 Octavius and Lep- 
idus were to prosecute the war against M. Brutus 5 and Cassius. 

6. Murder of Cicero. — The triumvirs determined to leave 
no enemies behind them. A reign of terror commenced. 
With a list of the chief citizens before them, they formally 
adjusted whom they should kill and whom they should spare. 
Once more the terrible days of Sulla and Cinna were revived. 

1 This action of the senate was probably taken against Cicero's wish ; for the last 
letter which we have of Cicero's correspondence (adFam. x., 24) written July 28, seems 
to indicate that friendship existed between him and Octavius. a Lex Pedia. 

3 According to some, on the island of Lavinus (Lavino) ; to others, the island of 
Khenus {Reno.) 

4 Antonius was to have the two Gauls ; Lepidus, the Spains and Narbonensis ; 
Octavius, Africa, Sicily and Sardinia. Lepidus and Plancus were to have the consulship 
the next year. 

5 D. Brutus attempted to cross the Alps, but was deserted by his soldiers and killed 
at Aquileja. 



B. C. 42.] LAST EFFORTS OF THE BEPUBLIC. 349 

The barbarian soldiers were let loose throughout Italy to hunt 
the proscribed. Cicero's name was one of the first on the list, 
a victim to Antonius' ferocity. He fled from Kome, embarked 
from Astura, with the view of taking refuge in Macedonia, 
and seemed already in safety, when a strange fit of irresolution 
seized him. He landed again and betook himself to his villa 
at Formiae. His servants warned him in vain of his danger. 
" Let me die," said he, "in my country which I have saved 
so often." His slaves got intelligence that his pursuers were 
approaching and they hurried him once more toward the sea- 
shore, but he was overtaken and dispatched in his litter ; his 
head was taken to Antonius. " This is no concern of mine," 
said he ; " take it to my wife." 1 Many of the proscribed escaped 
and took refuge with Sextus Pompejus in Spain, and with 
Brutus and Cassius in the East. 



chapter x.iii. 

Last Efforts of the Republic — Division of the Empire. 

1. The Battle of Philippi (b. c. 42).— Early in B.C. 42, 
military operations commenced. Octavius attempted to drive 
Sextus Pompejus out of Sicily, but his admiral, Salvidienus, 
was defeated, and he decided to follow Antonius to Epirus, to 
assist in carrying on the war against Brutus and Cassius. The 
liberators were wasting their time in plundering 2 the rich cities 
of the East, and were not aroused to their danger until the news 
came that Octayius and Antonius had landed in Greece and 
were on their way to Macedonia. Laden with spoils, the liber- 
ators prepared to meet them. Brutus, involved as he was in 
the affairs of war, and solicitous for the result, slept only a little. 
He spent the most of his nights in making preparations and 

1 Fulvia was the widow of Clodius when Antonius married her ; see p. , n. 

2 Brutus plundered Xanthus ; Cassius, Ehodes. All Asia Minor was compelled to 
pay the tribute of ten years. The temples were despoiled ; and the free inhabitants 
sold into slavery. 



350 LAST EFFORTS OF THE REPUBLIC. [b. C. 42. 

in reading the Stoics. Just before leaving Asia, he sat one night 
in his tent with a feeble light, when a strange figure entered 
and stood silently by his side. " Who art thou ?" said he; " what 
wilt thou with me ? " "I am thy evil genius, Brutus," said the 
spectre ; ■" thou shalt see me again at Philippi." The two 
armies * met on the plains of Philippi, 2 and the destiny of the 
Eoman world was decided in two battles. In the first, Cassius 
was obliged to yield to Antonius, while Brutus repulsed 
Octavius. Cassius, unaware of his colleague's victory, com- 
mitted suicide. Twenty days afterward the battle was re- 
newed, and Brutus was completely defeated, and fell, like 
Cassius, 3 on his sword. Many of the most noble republicans 
perished in the battle or fell into the hands of the victors ; 



1 The army of the liberators consisted of 89,000 foot and 20,000 horse ; Antonius and 
Octavius had 19 legions = about 120,000, and 1300 horse. 

2 The last of September. 

3 Our readers are for the most part aware that the grand feature of the civil contests 
in the Roman commonwealth was, throughout, the struggle of one favored class to 
maintain its exclusive privileges against another of a different origin, but blended with 
it in one body politic. The first phase of this struggle was that between the patricians 
and plebeians, strictly so called ; when this contest terminated in the admission of the 
inferior class to substantially equal privileges, peace was for a time obtained. But the 
progress of external conquest gradually created a similar distinction of classes upon a. 

• larger scale. The citizens of Rome, patrician and plebeian, whether living in the city or 
established in colonies, jealously maintained the distinctive privileges, lucrative and 
influential as they were, which they enjoyed as such. The conquered states of Italy, 
admitted into alliance and a certain limited communion with Rome but refused the 
complete franchise and its privileges, now stood in an analogous relation to the Roman 
people with that of the ancient plebeians to the patricians. The social wars formed the 
crisis of the long struggle for these privileges, and terminated in the enfranchisement of 
the Italians. However, it was still in the power of the Roman, or exclusive party, to 
neutralize these concessions to a considerable extent ; and then it was that the Italians 
began, like the plebeians of old, to look for allies among the ranks of their opponents. 
Marius himself, the great leader of the foreign party, was an Italian ; but many of his 
adherents were Romans, hostile to the domination of the old aristocratic families, and 
anxious, by whatever means, to obtain an ascendency for themselves. The contest, as 
is usual in such cases, gradually lost the character of a domestic and foreign, and 
acquired much of that of an aristocratic and popular struggle. Thus, during the suc- 
cess of the aristocratic party under Sulla, they tried to impose checks upon the influence 
of the plebeians, who had become almost indentified with the Italians, or rather, absorbed 
in their multitude. Pompejus succeeded to the post of Sulla at the head of this party, 
while Caesar assumed the leadership of the other. The one fought for the integrity of 
the senate, and such exclusive privileges as were still enjoyed by the old aristocratic 
families of Rome, of whom the senate was still almost entirely composed. The other 
was expected to break down every barrier which opposed the complete union of the 
Italian population in a single sovereign nation. Perhaps Pompejus 1 utter inability to 
make head against his rival in Italy may be taken as an evidence of the unpopularity 
of his course throughout the peninsula, and the people's sense of the important advan- 
tages which would follow to them from Caesar's success. The conflict which followed 
after the death of Caesar, bears some characteristics of the old aristocratic and 
popular struggle ; and in this, too, we find the leaders of the former party obliged to 
abandon Italy and carry on the contest in the provinces. The same might have been 
observed of the attempt of Cato and the sons of Pompejus. But the fall of Brutus and 
Cassius was a final death-blow to the cause of the old Roman aristocracy ; and Tacitus 
emphatically remarks : Bruto et Casso ccesis, nulla jam publico, arma.—Merivale. 



b. c. 42.] 



AKTOKIUS AHD CLEOPATKA. 



351 



others escaped to the fleet of Sextus Pompejus. Most of 
the vanquished soldiers were enlisted in the army of the con- 
querors. 

2. The Treaty of Philippi. — After the battle the victors 
made a new division of the empire ; Octavius received Spain 
and Numidia; Antonius, Transalpine Gaul and Illyricum. 
Cisalpine Gaul was joined with Italy. No share of the plunder 
was granted to Lepidus, under the pretence that he was in- 
triguing with Sextus Pompejus. Octavius, still suffering from 
ill-health, was desirous to return to Italy to satisfy the soldiers 
with new assignments of land. 

3. Antonius and Cleopatra. — Antonius preferred to 
remain in the East. Here he repeated the exactions that had 
already made the names of 

Brutus and Cassius infamous. 
"You shall furnish money/' 
said Antonius to the Greeks of 
Asia, "and Italy, lands." He 
forgot, however, the claims of 
his greedy soldiers and lavished 
his plunder upon himself and 
his parasites. It was in Cilicia 
that he met Cleopatra, the 
"Serpent of the Nile." He 
had already seen her in the 
train of his master Caesar. She 
had hastened, with full confi- 
dence in her wit and beauty, 
from Alexandria to deprecate 
the conqueror's wrath because 
she had furnished aid to Cas- 
sius. When Antonius saw her sailing up the Cydnus in a 
galley with purple sails, rowed by silver oars, he was completely 
enchanted, and willingly followed her to Alexandria as her 
slave. He forgot Rome and Fulvia and the war with the Par- 
tisans in the charms of her society. 




Mabcus Antonius. 



352 THE TREATY OF BRUtfDISIllM. [B. C. 40. 

4. Octavius in Italy.— Meanwhile Octavius was busy in 
Italy in assigning the promised estates to his soldiers. As no 
money came from Antonius he was obliged to despoil the 
temples and to drive away the old proprietors from their farms 
that he might satisfy the demands of the disbanded veterans. 1 
Whole cities with their adjacent districts were given up to 
spoliation. 2 Great disorder prevailed. Fulvia attempted to 
foment the discontent of the proprietors who had lost their 
lands and of the veterans who were not satisfied with their 
plunder, in hopes of recalling her faithless husband from the 
East. Octavius turned from one class to the other, but could 
not satisfy both. Finally, his general, Agrippa, repressed the 
discontent, and besieging Antonius' brother in Perusia, com- 
pelled him to surrender. 

5. The Treaty of Brundisium (b. c. 40). — The news of 
the Perusian war aroused Antonius, who embarked for Italy 
with a powerful fleet and a few legions. He made a compact 
with Sextus Pompejus to overthrow Octavius, but the name 
of Pompejus had long since lost its charm. The soldiers 
refused to fight and compelled the two triumvirs to treat. 
A new partition 3 of the Eoman world gave Antonius the East 
to rule and defend, while Octavius was to be entrusted with 
the West, and with the conduct of the war against Sextus Pom- 
pejus. The compact was sealed by the marriage of Antonius 
to Octavia, 4 his colleague's sister, while Octavius married 
Scribonia, the sister-in-law of S. Pompejus. The rivals, thus 
reconciled, repaired to Rome and entered the city with an 
ovation, and celebrated games and festivities. 5 

6. The Treaty of Misenum (b. c. 39).— The treaty of 
Brundisium marked the end of the civil war in Italy. It con- 

1 According to Appian each soldier was to have 5000 denarii ; each centurion, five 
times and each tribune ten times as much ; this with an armv of 28 legions = about 
170,000 men, amounted to about 1000 million denarii = nearly $200,000,000. 

a Virgil lost his property at Andes in Cisalpine Gaul, but recovered it through the. 
influence of Maecenas. Horace, Tibullus and Proper this, were involved in the land con- 
fiscations. The Ofellus of Horace (Sat. ii., 2, 112) gives a lively picture of a proprietor 
who was doomed to work for a master on the land that had once been his own. 

3 The dividing line was at. Scodra in IHyricum ; L^pidus was allowed to retain Africa. 

* Octavia had recently been left a widow by the death of Marcellus ; Fulvia had died 
shortly after Antonius' return. 

5 This took place during the consulship of Pollio, and Vergil celebrates the peace of 
Brundisium in his fourth eclogue. 



B.C. 38.] THE TREATY OF TARENTUM. 353 

signed the centre of the empire to a statesman who restrained 
the insubordination of the soldiers and restored order. Sex- 
tus Pompejus had been excluded from the treaty. His fleet 
commanded the sea and cut off the supply of wheat from Sicily 
and Africa. The populace became furious and compelled the 
triumvirs to treat with Sextus. They promised to resign to 
him Sicily and Achaja, while he engaged to supply Italy with 
corn. The three chiefs entertained one another on board a 
vessel moored in the harbor near Misenum. "Shall I cut off 
the anchors of the ship, and make you master of the Eomau 
world?" said Menas, 1 one of Pompejus' captains. "You 
ought to have done it instead of saying it," was his reply. 

7. The Treaty of Tarentum (b. c. 38). — The agreement, 
however, was never executed. Sextus never received Achaja, 
and he in turn failed to evacuate certain places on the coast of 
Italy which had fallen into his possession. Sextus flew to arms, 
threatened the seaports, and the price of grain rose in conse- 
quence at Eome. Antonius appeared off Brundisium with a 
fleet of three hundred sail. Octavius was so distrustful of his 
designs that he forbade him to land. Antonius sailed round to 
Tarentum, but by the mediation of Maecenas, 2 Octavia, and 
other friends, a reconciliation was effected. The triumvirate 
was renewed for another five years, and Antonius left one hun- 
dred and thirty vessels for Octavius to use against Pompejus, 
while he received twenty thousand soldiers for the Parthian war. 

8. Victory off Naulochus. — It was necessary for Octa- 
vius to build a fleet and practice his sailors in order to wrest 
the dominion of the sea from Sextus. With this view he 
constructed a secure harbor 3 on the southern coast of Italy. 
The next spring he attacked Sextus off Mylas, and by the 
skill and energy of Agrippa, gained a partial victory. 4 Soon 
after, the great sea-fight off Naulochus decided the contest. 
Deserted by his followers Sextus fled in despair to the East, in 
hopes of obtaining the protection of Antonius. 

1 Appian calls him Menodorus. 

2 Horace accompanied Maecenas to Tarentum and has given a lively account of the 
journey in the fifth satire. 

3 The lakes Avernus and Lucrinus, between Misenum and Puteoli. were connected ; 
water was let in from the Tyrrhenian sea. 4 Near Mylae. 



354 THE PALL OF LEPIDUS. [B. C. 36. 

9. The Fall of Lepidus (b. c. 36).— Scarcely was this 
danger from Antonius passed, when a new one, not less threaten- 
ing, arose. The Pompeian soldiers opened communication with 
Lepidus, who had come from Africa and had joined Agrippa 
in the siege of Messana. The gates were no sooner opened than 
the Pompeian troops saluted Lepidus as imperator. Finding 
himself at the head of twenty legions, he resolved to hold the 
island for himself. The prompt action of Octavius prevented 
civil war. He boldly entered his rival's camp almost unat- 
tended, threw himself among the soldiers, and made appeals to 
them which were successful. They deserted Lepidus as easily 
as they had joined him. Octavius deposed him from the trium- 
virate, confined him to the island of Circeji, but allowed him to 
retain the title of chief pontiff. 

10. The Position of Octavius. — Octavius now had no 
other rival than Antonius. Sextus Pompejus, who was the 
last of the old senatorial party, had fallen into the hands of 
Antonius' lieutenant, who put him to death. His death and 
Antonius' absence left Octavius the undisputed head of the 
Caesarians. Octavius had now attained that position in which 
he felt himself strong enough to be merciful. The strength of 
the old parties had been so broken up by death and confisca- 
tion, that the remnant were prepared to support any govern- 
ment which promised order and security. The people joined 
the senate in welcoming Octavius as the " restorer of peace by sea 
and land.'' Measures were taken to maintain in Rome a vigi- 
lant police, and brigandage was put down in Italy and Sicily. 
Octavius began now on a greater arena to display that state-craf fc 
which he had maintained from the first and which never de- 
serted him. He granted all the liberty consistent with his 
safety, but veiled his government under the forms of the con- 
stitution. 

11. The Ministers of Octavius. — In nothing did he show 
his discrimination more than in surrounding himself with two 
men — Agrippa, the able general, and Maecenas, the admirable 
counsellor. We have seen the perseverance and obstinate cour- 
age of Agrippa ; how he was ever active in constructing and 



B. C. 37-34.] AKTOKIUS AND THE EAST. 355 

repairing fleets, and exercising sailors. Maecenas had already 
rendered important service in reconciling the triumvirs, and in 
calming and restraining the multitude when the fleet of Sextus 
cut off the supply of grain. His genuine taste for learning and 
his encouragement of men of letters, Octavius found to be 
equally valuable in turning men's minds to literature, which 
contributed greatly in reconciling them to the loss of liberty. 
Maecenas' mild and elastic mind seemed formed to calm and 
quiet Italy after so many mighty storms had swept over it. 



chaptee liy. 

The Battle of Actium — The End of the Civil Wars. 

1. Antonius and the East (b. c. 37-34).— After the re- 
newal of the triumvirate, in b. c. 37, Antonius, who had 
already become tired of Octavia, left her in Italy, and deter- 
mined to carry on his long projected campaign against the 
Parthians. 1 By the middle of b. c. 36, he had assembled one 
hundred thousand men on the Euphrates, with the purpose of 
completing the success that his lieutenants had already 
begun. He penetrated as far as Praaspa, three hundred 
miles beyond the Tigris, but the Parthians cut off his muni- 
tions of war, and his treacherous ally 2 deserted him. He was 
compelled to commence a disastrous retreat, which cost the 
lives of eight thousand of his soldiers. In the following spring 
(b. c. 34), he made one more effort, 3 advanced into Armenia, 
where he collected an immense amount of booty. After 
this he returned to Alexandria, celebrated a triumph, and as- 

1 The Parthians, led by Labienus, Caesar's old general, had invaded Syria, Cilicia and 
Caria ; Ventidius had defeated them twice in Syria ; Labienus and Pharnapates, the 
ablest general of Orode?, had fallen in battle. Sosius took Jerusalem and dethroned 
Antigonus ; and Canidius, another lieutenant, penetrated into Amenia, defeated the 
kings of Iberia and Albania, and spread the terror of Antonius , name and power through 
these barbarous regions. Antonius found himself master of the three great roads on 
which the commerce of the world traveled— that of Caucasus, that of Palmyra, and that 
of Alexandria. 

a The king of Amenia. 3 Plut. Anton. 



356 OCTAVITTS AKD THE WEST. [B. C. 37-33. 

sumed the insignia and dress of an Oriental monarch. Cleopatra 
sat by his side as queen, to whose influence Antonius had en- 
tirely surrendered himself. He gave the title of king to her 
children, annexed the provinces of the Koman empire to the 
Egyptian kingdom, and plunged into the wildest dissipation. 

2. Cleopatra, the Queen of the East. — In order to 
retain her influence over him, and to effectually wean him from 
Eome, Cleopatra daily invented new pleasures and constantly 
amused him. She possessed a thousand charms, a thousand 
varied graces, and the gift of many languages. She was an ad- 
mirable singer, a skilled musician. Her flattery was varied as 
it was delicate. She transformed herself daily to please him. 
She gamed, she drank, she hunted, and followed him in all 
his exercises. In his night rambles through the streets of 
Alexandria, stopping at the doors and windows of the citi- 
zens to throw out jests, she attended him dressed as a slave. 
She already dreamed of planting her pavilion on the Tarpeian 
rock and of dictating her will among the trophies of Marius. 
She must wean Antonius from Eome ; then the Alexander 
of the East could conquer the West. One day Cleopatra had 
an Egyptian diviner say to him : "Thy genius fears Octa- 
vius ; when it is alone its port is erect and fearless ; when 
his approaches it is dejected and oppressed." Octavius 
possessed Rome ; it was his capital. Alexandria alone could be 
the capital of the empire of Antonius. Here the commerce of 
three continents found its mart. In this vast caravansary every 
nation lodged. In this great centre, the religion and mysticism 
of the East and the philosophy of the West met. This mighty 
world was mirrored in its queen, the female Mithridates — a 
varied, vast and multifarious mind, like that of the ever fruit- 
ful Isis, under whose attributes she triumphed. 1 

3. Octavius and the West. — Meanwhile Octavius was 
yearly increasing in popularity. His manners were affable, and 
his concern for the public welfare unwearied. He established 
a mild and firm government at Eome, and led his legions with 

1 Michelet ; Plut. Ant. She was adored in Egypt. When, after her death, the statue 
of Antonius was overthrown, an Alexandrian gave two millions sterling to have those 
of Cleopatra left.— Michelet, 



B.C. 32.] DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST EGYPT. 357 

success against the Dalmatians, the Salassi, and the Panno- 
nians. During the sedileship 1 of Agrippa, he rebuilt and 
beautified Eome, repaired the highways, cleansed the sewers, 
restored the aqueducts, and multiplied the fountains. At the 
same time the people were conciliated by largesses of money, 
oil and salt, while the games and shows amused them, and 
reconciled them to his government. The spoils from his 
Illyrian and Dalmatian campaigns were so enormous that they 
were not only sufficient for these vast works, but they enabled 
Octavius and Pollio to establish public libraries. 

4. Declaration of War against Egypt.— Thus far the 
two rivals had maintained all appearances of good-will towards 
each other ; but in b. c. 33, they began to exchange complaints. 
Octavius accused Antonius of lavishing the provinces of the 
Eoman empire on the Egyptian queen, and circulated the 
report that he wished to give her Eome even. 2 The consuls for 
b. c. 32 were, according to previous agreement, partisans of 
Antonius. They began their year of office with a violent in- 
vective against Octavius, who at the time was absent from the 
city. On his return, convening the senate, he stationed guards 
at the door, and entering himself surrounded by a body-guard, 
delivered a bitter invective against Antonius and promised to 
make formal charges against him at the next meeting. The con- 
suls fled to Antonius. In the meantime Octavius obtained pos- 
session of Antonius' will, which he had deposited with the vestal 
virgins, and which confirmed his donations of provinces and 
treasures to Cleopatra's children, declared one of them, Caesario, 
to be the heir of the great dictator, and finally directed that his 
own body should be entombed with hers at Alexandria. !STo one 
could any longer doubt the rumors that he intended to make 
Cleopatra queen of the Eoman world, and remove the seat of em- 
pire to Alexandria. The indignation of the people was aroused, 
and it was loudly demanded that Antonius should be declared a 
public enemy. Octavius refrained from this, but he directed the 

1 b. c. 33. 

2 The principal witnesses against Antonius were Calvistus and Plancus, who had been 
Antonius 1 confederates and had deserted him, 



358 BATTLE OF ACTIUM. [B.C.31. 

senate to declare war against Egypt. "It is not Antonius 
with whom we are going to war, for he is like a man under 
enchantment, who has no longer any power over himself, but 
with Mardion the eunuch, Pothinus, and Iris, Cleopatra's 
hairdresser." 

5. Battle of Actium (b. c. 31). — Antonius received the 
declaration of war at Athens, and replied by divorcing Octa- 
via, thus breaking the last tie that bound him to his country. 
Preparations for the coming struggle were pushed forward on 
both sides. Antonius had an army mustered from all the 
East. The Mauritanians, the Arabians, the Jews, the Medians, 
sent him aid ; the kings of Cilicia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia 
and Commagene followed his banner in person. The vast host t 
was assembled on the coast of Epirus to cross to Italy. 2 
Octavius busied himself in collecting the forces of the West. 
The triumvirate expired on the last day of b. c. 32. On the 
1st of January, b. c. 31, Octavius entered upon his third con- 
sulship. Embarking from Brundisium for Corcyra, he landed 
his army at the Acroceraunian promontory, and directed his 
march towards the Ambracian gulf 3 and established his camp 
opposite Actium, 4 where he afterwards erected Mcopolis. The 
fleet was commanded by the faithful Agrippa, and consisted 
of light Liburnian galleys manned by crews which had gained 
experience in the wars with S. Pompejus. It cruised over 
the whole Ionian sea, defeated and destroyed a part of Anto- 
nius' fleet, and thus secured command of the sea. Antonius' 
supplies began to fail, and the dissatisfaction and desertion 
of his soldiers compelled him to risk a battle. His friends 
wished to decide the contest on land, but Cleopatra insisted 
that they should fight by sea. Her advice prevailed, and 
on the 2d of September, Antonius drew up his line of 
battle. The contest was long and still undecided, when Cleo- 
patra, who was in the rear of the line of battle, with sixty 

1 Nearly 100,000 foot, 1200 horse, and 800 ships, many with ten bariks of oars. 

3 Octavius had 80,000 foot, 1200 horse, and 250 vessels, according to some 400. 

3 The army and fleet of Antonius was at the southern entrance of the Ambracian 
guif. 

* At the tip or acte of the peninsula stood a chapel sacred to Apollo, called the 
Actium ; see map, p. 



B. C. 30.] RESTOKATIO^ OF ORDER. 359 

ships, took advantage of a favorable breeze and fled. Antonius 
saw her flight, and immediately sprang into a five-oared 
galley and followed her. 1 The battle still raged furiously, but 
before evening the fleet was entirely destroyed, and a few days 
after the army joined the victor. 

6. Restoration of Order. — Before following the fugitives, 
Octavius restored order in Greece and Asia, which, on account 
of the exactions of Antonius, gave him a hearty welcome. To 
appease the soldiers it was necessary to sell at auction his own 
effects as well as those of his friends. New colonies were 
planted and ample promises were made from the spoils of 
Egypt. 

7. Suicide of Antonius.— As for Antonius he was in 
despair. He wished to be alone. His friends, his power, had 
abandoned him. Cleopatra found means to woo him from his 
solitary life. The time of the " inimitable life" 2 was gone, 
but another was instituted by no means inferior in splendor 
and luxury, called the " inseparables in death." The time was 
passed in festivities and in trying various kinds of poison, and 
experimenting with venomous insects to see if there existed 
a voluptuous death. 3 When Octavius approached Egypt, both 
sought grace from the victor. Pelusium, the key of the 
country, fell into his hands. Once more the soldier-spirit 
blazed in Antonius and he fought like a lion before the gates 
of Alexandria. Cleopatra had already received flattering mes- 
sages from Octavius; it was only necessary to disencumber 
herself of Antonius, who had already been deserted by his fleet 
and army. Cleopatra had word sent to Antonius that she had 
destroyed herself in her fortified mausoleum in which she had 
taken refuge. Antonius heard the news. "I will die then," 
said he, and stabbed himse]f with his sword. Eeviving a little, 



1 According to Merivale (vol. iii., p. 318), Antonius despaired of victory either by sea 
or land, before the battle, and had already prepared for flight when he was attacked. If 
this was his plan, the leaving of the army withont any arrangements for retreat, and 
without even a leader (which would be explainable in the haste and despair after a lost 
battle) would be an act of downright folly. Plutarch makes no mention of such an 
intention, and even Did. (iv., 15), whom Marivale follows, seems to lay little weight 
upon it. 

a Plut. Ant, 3 Plut. Ant. and Did. li., 2. 



360 suicide or cleopatra. [b. c. 30. 

lie heard that Cleopatra was still alive. He ordered himself to 
be carried to her, and his litter being raised up to the window, 
he was taken into the mausoleum, where he died soon after in 
her arms. «* 

8. Suicide of Cleopatra.— The soldiers of Octavius en- 
tered by the same window. " Wretched Cleopatra! " exclaimed 
her attendant, "you are taken alive." She pretended to stab 
herself with a poniard that she carried for this purpose ; but 
she really clung to life and hoped to seduce Octavius "by the 
grace of a beautiful grief and the coquetry of despair." All 
failed before his cold reserve. She resolved to die, when she 
was informed that Octavius wished to remove her to Rome. 
One day she was found dead 1 among her attendants, lying 
upon a golden couch, with a diadem on her forehead. 

9. Octavius Sole Ruler. — The death of Antonius left 
Octavius without a rival. The restoration of the republic was 
impossible. The long years of civil war had exhausted the 
world. It yearned for repose. The time had come when the 
monarchy was inevitable ; with it came the man who knew how 
to grasp the reins with a firm hand and veil his supremacy 
under those constitutional forms so deeply rooted in the ideas 
and habits of the people. The crafty policy of Octavius in 
representing the battle of Actium as a revolt of the East 
against the West, as an effort to obliterate the rule of Rome, 
was completely successful. All classes were deeply impressed 
with the great danger they had escaped, which had threatened 
to subvert their laws and religion. Before returning to Rome 
to celebrate his triumphs, Octavius organized Egyjot as a 
province, 2 and appointed Cornelius Gallus, a distinguished 
patron of literature and friend of Pollio, governor. Octavius 
then began his journey homeward. In Judaea he confirmed 
the kingdom to Herod, settled the condition of Syria and 



1 The manner of her death was never known. It was popularly believed that she 
died from the sting of an asp, which was brought to her concealed among some figs. 
Octavius adopted this, and in his triumph her image was carried, the arms being 
encircled with asps. 

2 On the plan that Caesar had arranged ; the officer of finance {procurator) rendered, 
Jiis accounts directly to Octavius, 



SUMMAKY. 



361 



Asia Minor and in August of b. c. 29 arrived in Kome to 
celebrate three magnificent triumphs 1 for his victories in 
Dalmatia, at Actium and in Egypt. The restoration of peace 
was inaugurated by closing the temple of Janus for the third 
time in all Eoman history. 2 

1 At his triumph he gave each soldier 1000 sesterces ; each citizen 400 sesterces ; 
120,000 veterans were settled in Italy and the provinces. The enormous sum of 860 
million sesterces = nearly $40,000,000 was given to indemnify the former possessors. 

2 It was closed first during the reign of Nuina and then not till b. c. 235. 



SUMMAKY, 

Civil Dissensions — b. c. 133-31. 



During the preceding period the government had 
fallen entirely into the hands of the nobility. The sen- 
ate governed almost without opposition. In fact the 
nobles had such influence that " new men " were ex- 
cluded from all share in the government. The opposi- 
tion led by such men as Cato and Flaccus wasted their 
efforts in trying to check the spread of luxury and to 
elevate one of their own number to the consulship. 
Meanwhile the state drifted into troubles from which 
the wisest could not free it. The Licinian laws had 
been disregarded for so many years that all the lands 
in Italy were absorbed in the large estates ; and instead 
of employing free laborers, the possessors found it more 
profitable to have their lands cultivated by slaves which 
the wars in the East had made cheap. In time the im- 
portation of corn which was sold in the market at Rome 
below the cost of production in Italy, compelled farm- 
ing on a large scale to be abandoned, and the conver- 
sion of the land into pasturage. Tiberius Gracchus 
attempted to remedy these evils by reviving the Li- 
cinian laws. This, however, was disagreeable to the 
nobility, who succeeded in frustrating his measures 
and finally murdered Gracchus himself. From this time 
the downward step was rapid ; the old inherent respect 
for law and order soon disappeared, and the govern- 
ment became the prey of violent and unscrupulous 
demagogues. 

The death of Tiberius did not deter his brother Gajus 
from coming forward with still more sweeping measures 
of reform — the relief of the poorer classes and the break- 
ing down of the power of the senate. The senate 
triumphed and Gajus was killed with three thousand 



Rome Ruled 
Tby a Clique. 



Tlie Opposition. 



Agrarian Laws 
of Tiberius 

Gracchus, 

B. C. I33. 

Murder of 
Tiberius, 

B. C. 133. 



Laws of Gajus 
Gracchus, 

B.C. 123-2, 

His Death, 



362 



SUMMAET. 



Rule of 
the Oligarchy, 

B. C. I2I-7C 
War with 
Jugurtha, 

B.C. III-I05. 

Cimhri and Teu- 

tones, 

B.C. II3-IOI. 

Battle of 

Aquse Sextiae, 

B.C. I02. 

Battle at 
Vercellse, 

B. C. IOI. 



Appuleiaii 

Laws, 
B.C. IOO. 



Livian Laws, 
B. C. 91. 



Social War, 
B. C. 9O-88. 



Julian Law, 

B, C. 90. 

Lex Plautia 
Papiria, 

B.C. 80. 



Variau 
Prosecution. 

Financial 
Crisis, 

B.C. 88. 

Sulla, Com- 
mander against 
Mithridates. 



Sulpician Laws, 
B. C. 88. 



of his adherents. The death of Gajus threw the power 
again into the hands of the oligarchy. The Agrarian 
laws were annulled, and the shameless rule of the oli- 
garchy brought dishonor upon the Roman name. Every- 
where the incompetency of the government was visible. 
In Africa, Jugurtha revolted and carried on war for 
nearly six years. Before the war with Jugurtha was 
ended, the Teutones and Cimbri invaded the empire ; 
the first were defeated by Marius at" Aquae Sextiae, and 
the latter by Marius and Catulus near Vercellae. 

These victories raised Marius far above all his rivals, 
and had he been a statesman, he might have anticipated 
the work of Caesar. He was a great soldier but no 
statesman. Laws were carried reducing still further 
the price of corn and provisions for colonies in Cisal- 
pine Gaul. The demagogues of the capital — Saturninus 
and Glaucia — used him, but when their violence pro- 
voked armed resistance, Marius deserted them and 
finally sacrificed them. 

For a few years there was peace at Rome, but soon 
the claims of the Italians and the Latins to the franchise, 
and the demand of the oligarchy that the judicial power 
should be restored to their own order, renewed the 
discord. Drusus proposed (1) to recruit the senate 
from the equestrian order, and then to choose the jury- 
men from the senators, and (2) he promised the fran- 
chise to the Italian allies. The oligarchy had recourse 
once more to assassination in hopes of delaying this 
reform. The death of Drusus drove the allies to despair. 
All central and southern Italy were soon in arms. Cor- 
finium was fixed upon as the capital of the new " Italica." 
The allies met at first with some success which com- 
pelled the Romans to grant concessions — (1) by the 
Julian law which conferred the franchise on the Latins 
and all Italians who had remained faithful or had laid 
down their arms ; (2) by the lex Plautia Papiria which 
granted all the subjects ever claimed. The allies were 
far from satisfied with the manner in which they were 
treated after the peace — being crowded into eight tribes 
— while the discord and hatred engendered by the prose- 
cutions of Varius, who instituted investigations against 
every one who had favored the cause of the Italians, 
combined with the financial crisis that set in on account 
of the troubles in Asia, arrayed party against party, and 
sowed the bitterest discord among the people. Further 
Marius had gained little credit during the Social war, 
while his rival Sulla had won great renown. The sen- 
ate therefore very naturally selected Sulla to conduct the 
war against Mithridates. Marius was deeply offended, 
and in order to increase his popularity, he undertook 
the cause of the Italians and induced Sulpicius to 
propose and carry a law to distribute the new citizens 
among all the tribes in which Marius hoped their influ- 



SUMMARY. 



363 



ence would be sufficient to procure for him the command 
against Mithridates. Sulla, however, returned to Rome 
with six legions and expelled his enemies. Marius, 
after a wonderful series of adventures, found safety in 
Africa. But Sulla had no sooner left Rome, than Cinna 
kindled the flames of civil war, endeavored to recall 
Marius, and to revive trie Sulpician laws. Marius and 
Cinna marched to Rome and entered it with their parti- 
sans. The friends of Sulla were slaughtered, their 
property was confiscated, and a reign of terror was 
inaugurated. 

FlEST MlTHRIDATIC WAR B. C. 88-84. 

Mithridates and the Romans had often come in col- 
lision in Asia Minor — particularly when Mithridates 
attempted to place his nephew on the throne of Cap- 
padocia and set up a rival claimant to the throne of 
Bithynia. Mithridates saw that war with Rome was 
inevitable, and prepared to strike when the favorable 
moment came. When, however, Aquillius, who had 
been sent to Asia to settle the difficulties there, insti- 
gated Nicomedes to plunder the territories of Mithri- 
dates, Mithridates could restrain himself no longer. He 
invaded the Roman province and took up his winter 
quarters at Ephesus, and sent his generals Archelaus 
and Traxiles to aid the Athenians who had revolted. 
Sulla crossed to Greece, besieged and captured Athens, 
and defeated both armies of the king, first at Chaeronea 
and then at Orchomenus. These successes brought 
Mithridates to terms. He gave up all his conquests, 
paid 300 talents and surrendered 80 ships of war. 

During Sulla's absence the government had been 
controlled by Cinna. Sulla returned at the head of his 
army ; he defeated Norbanus near Capua, won over to 
his service the army of the other consul Scipio, and 
crushed the last opposition of the Samnites at the Col- 
line Gate. After this he published his " lists " of the 
proscribed. As many as 47,000 are said to have per- 
ished. He reformed the constitution, concentrating 
all powers in the hands of the senate, and in B. c. 79 
abdicated. 

Scandalous Rule of the Oligarchy. 

Scarcely was Sulla dead before symptoms of reaction 
against the rule of the senate appeared. The attempt of 
Lepidus to rescind the laws of Sulla was followed by 
the war with Sertorius in Spain and the Gladiatorial 
war. Pompejus and Crassus gained renown in these 
w r ars and they demanded the consulship as a reward. 
The abuses of the oligarchy had become so scandalous 
that all classes demanded the restoration of the tribuni- 
tian power. Laws were carried, restoring the power 



Marius and 
Cinna, 

B.C. 87. 



Marius Consul, 

B. c. 88. 

First 
Prose ription , 

B.C. 87. 



Cause of the 

War. 



Mithridates 
Invades Asia, 

B.C. 88. 

Sulla takes 
Athens, 

B.C. 87. 

Battle of 

Chseronea, 

B. c. 86. 

Battle of 

Orchomenus, 

B.C. 85. 

Terms of Peace, 

B. C. 84. 

Sulla's Return 

to Italy, 

B. C. 83. 

Battle of the 

Collin e Gate, 

B. C. 82. 

Proscription, 

B. C. 8l. 

Sullan 
Constitution, 

B.C. 82-80. 



War with 
Gladiators, 

B.C. 73-7L 

Legislation 

of Pompejus 
and Crassus, 

B.C. 70. 



364 



SUMMARY. 



of the tribunes and enacting that the jurymen should be 
selected equally from the senators, knights, and tribuni 
cerarii. Pompejus took no province after the ex- 
piration of his consulship, but after two years' retire- 
ment the wretched state of affairs compelled him to 
return and clear first the sea of pirates and then end 
the Third Mithridatic war. 



War with the 
Pirates, 

B. C. 67. 



Cause of* the 

War. 

Battle at 
Tigranocert a, 

B. C. 69. 



Pompejus takes 
Command, 

B.C. 66. 

Battle 
at Nicopolis, 

- B. c. 66. 
Conclusion of 
the War, 

B. C. 63. 



Conspiracy of 
Catiline, 

B. C. 63-2. 



First Trium- 
virate, 

B.C. 60. 

Consulship of 
Caesar, 

B. C. 59. 

Banishment of 
Cicero, 

B.C. 58. 

Subjugation of 

the West, 

B.C. 58-51. 



Third Mithridatic War — b. c. 74-63. 

Mithridates felt that the peace with Rome was only a 
truce. He therefore made great preparations to renew 
the war. When the Romans converted Bithynia into a 
province* he thought it a favorable time to strike. He 
invaded Asia with a large army, supported by his fleet, 
and invested Cyzicus. Lucullus raised the siege of 
Cyzicus, defeated Mithridates on the ^Esepus and then 
at Tigranocerta, and compelled him to seek refuge 
with Tigranes. A mutiny in the army compelled Lucul- 
lus to pause in his career of conquest, and his economic 
measures in Asia and unpopularity at Rome caused his 
recall. Pompejus took command, gained favor with 
the soldiers by relaxing the strict rules of Lucullus, 
secured the alliance of the Parthian king, and then 
defeated Mithridates at Nicopolis and compelled him 
to take refuge in the Cimmerian Bosporus. Pompe- 
jus settled the affairs of Armenia, subdued Syria, 
Phoenicia and Palestine, took Jerusalem, and then in 
B. c. 62 returned homeward, reaching Rome B. c. 61. 

Internal History — b. c. 65-49. 

Meanwhile at Rome the government had been nearly 
subverted by the conspiracy of Catiline, in which many 
eminent men were said to be implicated. By the un- 
wearied exertions of Cicero the plans of the conspira- 
tors were frustrated in the city, and their army defeated 
at Pistoria. When Pompejus returned, he found that 
he was regarded with suspicion by the senators, and 
that they were in no mood to grant lands for his sol- 
diers or to confirm his acts in the East. This com- 
pelled him to accept the overtures of Caesar ; a private 
cabal was formed between Caesar, Pompejus and Cras- 
sus, in which it was agreed that they should co-operate 
with each other to secure (1) lands for the soldiers of 
Pompejus ; (2) the confirmation of his acts in the East ; 
(3) the elevation of Caesar to the consulship. The tri- 
umvirs determined, in order to secure their power, to 
remove Cicero and Cato. For this purpose the dema- 
gogue Clodius was used. Cato was sent to Cyprus, 
which was to be converted on some frivolous pretext 
into a province, while Cicero was banished from the 
state. Caesar then departed to his province to subdue 



STJMMAKY. 



364a 



Legislation of 
Clodius, 

B.C. 57. 



the free tribes in Gaul. Clodius continued the abject 
tool of Caesar. Measures were carried for free 
distribution of corn, to limit the power of the senate, 
to re-establish the guilds of trade, and to annul 
the powers of the censors. Soon Clodius dared to 
oppose Pompejus, who was thus forced to incline 
toward the senate, and who hoped that the anarchy at 
Rome would compel the senate to appoint him dictator. 
The senate, however, was not yet ready to receive a 
master ; they opposed Milo to Clodius, fomented dis- 
cord between Pompejus and Crassus, and cajoled 
Pompejus. Caesar saw it was time to act. At an inter- 
view at Lucca, he reconciled Pompejus and Crassus, 
and arranged that they should be elected consuls for 
B.C. 55. For himself his command was prolonged for 
another five years. The triumvirs obtained their objects. 
Pompejus received Spain as his province, while Cras- 
sus became proconsul of Syria, where he crossed the 
Euphrates, but was completely defeated and killed. 
The death of Crassus hastened the rupture between 
Caesar and Pompejus. Julia died in B.C. 55, and in 
B.C. 52 Clodius, the last check to Pompejus' ambition, 
was removed. The anarchy in the capital increased to 
such an extent that Pompejus was elected sole consul. 
If Caesar were removed, Pompejus knew that the gov- 
ernment must fall into his own hands. He therefore 
encouraged the aristocrats to propose the recall of 
Caesar and to prevent him in his absence from suing 
for the consulship. When the senate, in spite of the 
tribune's veto, appointed Caesar's successor, civil war 
was certain. When the decree of the senate ordering 
Caesar to disband his army and give up his province 
reached him, he determined to act. 



Great Civil "War — b. c. 49-45 

Without delay Caesar advanced towards Rome. Con- 
sternation seized the people, and even Pompejus fell 
back to Brundisium and then embarked for Greece. 
This left Caesar master of Italy. Caesar then subdued 
the different provinces in detail. Pompejus' lieuten- 
ants in Spain were defeated at Ilerda ; then Caesar has- 
tened to the East. The battle of Pharsalus decided 
the contest. After that the Pompeians were defeated in 
Africa at Thapsus, and finally in Spain at Munda. 
Egypt was also subjugated and Pharnaces punished. 

Caesar now returned to Rome and ruled as imperator. 
The various titles and powers that had been taken from 
the supreme magistrate, centred again in one man. 
Good government was secured at home and in the 
provinces. He introduced various reforms, commenced 
vast projects for the improvement of the capital, encour- 
aged agriculture and reformed the calendar, Caesar 



Renewal of the 
Triumvirate, 

B. C. 56. 



Death of 
Crassus, 

B.C. 53. 



Coalition be- 
tween the 
Senate and 
Pompejus. 

Pompejus Sole 
Consul, 

B. C. 52. 



Brundisium, 

B. C. 49. 
Ilerda, 
B. C. 49. 
Pharsalus, 
B. C. 48. 
Thapsus, 
B. C. 46. 
Munda, 
B. C. 45. 



Caesar Monarch, 

B C 45, 



3645 



SUMMARY. 



did not realize, however, how attached the Romans 
were to the old forms of the republic. He misjudged 
the temper of the people. He did not realize how 
deep seated was the hatred against royalty. He knew 
himself that the monarchy was inevitable, and by openly 
proclaiming it provoked a conspiracy formed by Brutus, 
Cassius and others, to which he (ell a victim. 



Assassination 
of Caesar, 

B. C. 44. 



Antonius Seizes 

the Chief 

Power. 

G. Octavius. 



The Mutina 
War, 

b. c. 43-46. 



Second 
Triumvirate, 

B. C. 43. 

Battle of 
Philippi, 

B. C. 42. 



Battle 
of Ac i in 111, 

B. C. 31. 



Imperial 
Government 

Established, 
B. C. 31. 



Last Days of the Republic — b. c. 44-31. 

The conspirators had formed no plan for restoring the 
republic, and the result was that the power fell into the 
hands of Antonius. Antonius was on the point of 
gaining all he wished, when he was checked in his 
career by G. Octavius, the heir of Caesar. Octavius 
managed so skillfully that he gained the favor of Cicero, 
by whose influence Antonius was declared a public 
enemy, and the senate associated Octavius in com- 
mand with the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, who 
were directed to carry on war against Antonius. Two 
battles were fought near Mutina, in which Antonius 
was defeated but the two consuls fell, and Octavius 
was left in sole command of the army. Octavius now 
demanded the consulship and the senate was com- 
pelled to yield. He now showed himself in his true 
colors. He treated with Antonius and Lepidus, for by 
their assistance only could he hope to crush Cassius 
and Brutus in the East. A new proscription was 
ordered in which Cicero perished. Antonius and 
Octavius then crossed to Greece, where they defeated 
the "liberators" in the battle of Philippi. 

After the battle the triumvirs made a new division of 
the empire. Antonius received the East ; Octavius 
ruled the West, while Lepidus received Africa. The 
triumvirs soon began to quarrel, and after various 
reconciliations, Octavius, who had constantly increased 
in reputation, determined to precipitate a rupture, for 
which he had been preparing for many years. The great 
contest was decided at the battle of Actium. Antonius 
fled from the battle, and although prolonging the con- 
test for nearly a year, he was finally defeated, having 
been deserted by his fleet and army, and committed 
suicide. The death of Antonius left Octavius without 
a rival ; he was now the sole ruler of the Roman world. 
Warned by the fate of his uncle, Octavius discarded 
every illegal title. He veiled his supreme power under 
the forms of the republic. Everything that was dis- 
pleasing to the Romans was discarded. Gradually he 
combined within his own person all the republican 
offices, and took to himself every vestige of power that 
the state had to bestow. The monarchy was established, 
but it was disguised under republican forms. 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION". 365 



chapter xtv\ 

The Military Organization. — The Legion. — The System 
of Encampment. — Military Engines. 

1. Military Power. — As we have now reached a turning 
point in our history — a time when a standing army is estab- 
lished and the military authority has become predominant in 
the state — it would be well to review the manner by which 
the military organization has reached its present perfection. 

2. The Legion. 1 — The legion designated from the begin- 
ning to the end of Roman history an organized body of troops. 
Each legion was complete within itself, being composed of 
troops of all arms, cavalry, infantry, and when military engines 
came into use, of artillery. The number of soldiers, although 
fixed within certain limits, varied considerably at different 
times. The history of the legion may be considered under three 
periods, viz. : 

I. The first period embraced the time when military service 
due to the state was based either upon birth or wealth. This 
period falls into three subdivisions : (1) the time before Servius 
Tullius ; (2) the time from Servius Tullius to Camillus ; (3) the 
time from Camillus to the end of the Social War. 

II. During the second period the legion was recruited with 
mercenaries, and 

III. During the third warfare became a regular profession, 
and a standing army was established. 

3. The First Period. — It will be remembered that the 
legendary narrative of Livy attributes the formation of the legion 
to Romulus, 2 and that each of the three tribes furnished 1000 
foot-soldiers and 100 cavalry. The 3000 foot-soldiers and the 

1 Legio. 2 See pp. 20 and 29. 

three pages for summary. 



366 THE MILITAEY ORGANIZATION. 

300 cavalry, under the command of military tribunes, formed 
the legion. 

4. The Army as Organized by Servius Tullius. — The 

legion as organized by Eomulus remained unchanged until 
the time of Seryius Tullius/ who reformed the military organ- 
ization on the principle that military service should devolve 
upon the freeholders or the wealthy, whether they were patri- 
cians or plebeians. It will be recollected that the Koman^ 
territory was divided into four tribes, and the whole population 
subject to military service into five classes. The first class was 
divided into infantry and cavalry, and all five classes into 
senior es and juniores. The younger men were employed for 
service in the field ; the elders were retained at home to pro- 
tect the city. The 85 centuries of seniores were strong 
enough to furnish 100 men each or 8500 men, and the 85 
centuries of junior es, 200 men each or 17,000, equal in all to 
25,500 men. In case of a war the levy was always made by 
tribes. Of the 1800 cavalry it was only necessary to determine 
how many were to remain at home to protect the city, and how 
many were to serve in the field. From the 85 centuries 
of juniores, as they contained more men than were necessary 
for a regular army of two legions of 4250 men each, it was 
necessary to make a selection. 2 For the two legions of 8500 
men, each tribe furnished 2150, or 25 men for each century. 3 

5. The Arms of the Soldiers and their Order in the 
Phalanx. — Only the men of the first class wore complete 
armor — the breastplate, helmet, shield, and greaves with spear, 
lance, and sword. 4 The fifth class did not serve in the phalanx 
but fought outside with darts and slings. The order of battle 
was the old Doric phalanx, 5 to form which 3500 men were 
taken from the legion. If the phalanx was seven men deep, 
this gave a front of 500 men. If, however, as was most prob- 

1 See page 22. -Delectus. 

3 On the supposition that S. Tullius organized only four classes, as was probably the 
case, then each of the 70 centuries of juniores furnished 120 men each, or 8400 in all. 

* See page 23. 

5 The phalanx, as changed by Philip, became known first to the Romans in the war 
with Pyrrhus. 

That is, from the 70 centuries of juniores =7000 or 3500 for each legion ; the fifth 
Class furnished 1500 men. 



THE MILITAKY ORGANIZATION. 367 

ably the case, S. Tullius organized only four classes, and three 
of these formed the phalanx, then the phalanx was six men 
deep with a front of 600. ' The first class furnished 2400 men 
for each legion and formed the first four lines ; the second 
class, 600 men, formed the fifth line, and the third class, 
also 600 men, the sixth line. The soldiers of the first 
class were called principes; the first, second, and third 
classes in opposition to the fourth class, which fought outside 
of the phalanx, was called hasiati, because they were armed 
with the hasta, or they were called triarii, because they were 
composed of men from three classes. The soldiers were armed 
at their own expense and received no pay. They served usually 
for one campaign of a few weeks or months, and returned to 
their usual avocations as soon as the campaign was ended. 

6. The Rise of the Equestrian Order. — In the war with 
Veji, it became necessary for the Roman army to remain in the 
field summer and winter, year after year, until the city was 
taken. To secure this it was necessary that the soldiers should 
receive regular pay. The long and continued wars with 
Pyrrhus and with Carthage compelled the continuance of this 
system, and henceforth the army drew regular pay from the 
city treasury. With the introduction of pay for the soldiers was 
connected another important innovation in the military organi- 
zation. Service in the infantry, in consequence of the regular 
pay, became less burdensome, and there was no difficulty 
in obtaining a sufficient number of soldiers. The richer citi- 
zens, no longer in request for the infantry, offered themselves 
more and more for the cavalry service. They provided their 
own horses, and the state gladly accepted their services. These 
volunteers laid the foundation for what was afterwards known 
as the equestrian order. 

7. The Organization of the Army at about B. C. 340. 
— About the same time other changes were begun that led to 
a complete transformation of the army. The manipular legion 
took the place of the old Doric phalanx. The wars with the 

1 That is, 60 centuries of juniores of 120 men each, or 7200 in all =30 maniples of 120 
men for each legion, 



368 THE MILITAEY ORGANIZATION. 

Gauls caused material changes in the manner of equipping the 
soldiers, while the long wars in the Samnite mountains showed 
the necessity of still further changes. The soldiers were no 
longer ranked in the lines according to the Servian classes, but 
each assumed the place to which the time he had been in the 
service and his experience entitled him. The recruit now 
entered first among the skirmishers, who fought with stones 
and slings outside of the line, and worked his way up to the first, 
then to the second, until finally he was admitted into the corps 
of the triarii. Many essential details in regard to the organi- 
zation of the Eoman legion until about the time of the second 
war with Carthage, are matters of conjecture. It was probably 
drawn up in three lines, viz. : hastati, principes and triarii ; the 
last line being triple, consisting of the triarii proper, the 
rorarii and the accensi. In the first line the youngest troops 
were stationed ; in the second, those in the full vigor of man- 
hood ; in the third, the veterans ; behind these were the rorarii 
and accensi, the less experienced soldiers and supernumeraries. 
The three lines were thus composed : 1 

15 maniples or 30 centuries of hastati at 60 men each 1800 

15 maniples " " "principes " " " 1800 

The triarii 600 

The rorarii and accensi 1000 

Total 5200 

8. The Organization of the Army in the Time of 
Polybius. — Polybius 2 who lived for many years at Eome and 
had excellent opportunities for obtaining information, has 
left a clear account of the legion as it was organized in his 
time. It then consisted of thirty maniples or companies 

1 This is Marquardt's (R6m. Staatsver., p. 352) conjecture. According to Livy (viii., 8) 
there were : 

30 maniples of hastati and principes 1890 

15 " " triarii, rorarii and accensi, with 45 vexillarii 2835 

Total , .., 4725 

* See p. 166, n. 1, 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 369 

arranged in three lines, hastati, 1 principes, and triarii, like 
the black squares on a chess-board ; the roraii and accensi 
have disappeared and their places have been taken by 1200 
velites, 2 enlisted from the lowest of the Servian classes as light 
troops or skirmishers. In the two first lines there were in each 
maniple 120 men subdivided into two centuries of sixty men 
apiece ; in each maniple of the third line, there were sixty 
men also subdivided into two centuries of thirty men each. 
Besides these 3000 heavy armed soldiers, there were the 1200 
supernumeraries, 3 the three hundred cavalry and the quota 
from the allies 4 who furnished an equal number of infantry, 
and in the time of Polybius, three times the number of 
cavalry. 5 

9. The Tactic Order. — The tactic order of the maniple, 
as can be seen from the annexed figure, shows that the gen- 

i — i izzi czi [z=i c=3 c=i cm czn 
][z]i=]aaoac=in 
i — i i — i i — i tzu nn nz2 nn tzzi tzzi ezzi 

eral could advance the principes into the intervals of the 
hastati or withdraw the hastati into the intervals of the 
principes. The triarii or veterans were the reserve corps and 
were only brought into action when the other lines were 

1 The hastati are no longer armed with the hasta, but with the pilum ; the principes 
are the second line instead of the first as originally, and the triarii, also called pilani, are 
armed not with the pilum but with the hasta. 

2 This is the estimated number. 

3 The following table will make it clear : 

Hastati 10 manipuli each 120 men = 29 centuriae each 60 men = 1200. 
Principes 10 manipuli each 120 men = 20 centuriae each 60 men == 1200. 
Triarii 10 manipuli each 60 men = 20 centuriae each 30 men = 600. 
Velites = 1200 ; 20 velites assigned to each centuria. 
Equites = 300, divided into 10 turmce each 30 men ; each turma had 3 
decuHones, one of which commanded the whole turma, 3 optiones and 
one vexillum. 
* These must be distinguished from the auxiliaries who enlisted in the country where 
the war happened to be carried on, as occasion required. When the Italian socii 
received the franchise, the army was composed of only two classes, Komans and 
auxiliaries. 

5 One-third of the cavalry and one-fifth of the infantry was selected as an elite corps 
called extraordinarii ; the others were caller! ordinarii. To a consular army of two 
legions or 8400 men, there were assigned 10,000 socii, {i.e., 8400 ordinarii and 1600 
extraordinarii.) The ordinarii, subdivided 'nto cohorts, were stationed one-half or ten 
cohorts of 420 men each, on each wing {ala)\ there were four cohorts of 400 men each of 
extraordinarii ; each cohort was commanded by a prwfectus cohortis, and each ala 
by prcefecti sociorum. 



370 THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 

broken. The light troops (velites) were armed with the 
javelin; they began the battle in front of the line, but 
retired as soon as they had discharged their weapons. 

10. The Offensive and Defensive Weapons. — The 
hastati, principes and triarii wore a full suit of defensive 
armor * consisting of a bronze helmet, 2 surmounted by a 
crest composed of three scarlet or black feathers about one 
foot and a half high, a shield, 3 greaves 4 and breastplate. 5 
The offensive weapons were a sword, javelins, and since the 
second Punic war, the short Spanish sword. In the time of 
Polybius the hastati and principes were armed with the pilum 
and the triarii with the hasta, but at a later time all three 
lines were armed with the pilum. 6 The light troops had no 
breastplate, but were furnished with a strong circular shield, 7 
a headpiece of leather, light javelins 8 and the Spanish 
sword. 9 Each legion had six superior officers called military 
tribunes, 10 two of whom commanded for two months alter- 
nating from day to day. For the command of the allies 
the consul nominated twelve officers called prmfecti soci- 
orum. 

11. The Second Period. — Hitherto the military system 
had rested on the principle that military service was due from 
those citizens that possessed property. The increase of the city 
rabble which naturally looked to the military service as a 
means of bettering their condition, the increasing disinclination 
of the citizens to enter the army, and the consequent enlist- 
ments from the subjects, led first to a reduction of the census 



1 navonXCa. 2 Galea. 5 Scutum. 4 Ocrece. 

5 Lorica ; the first class wore sometimes the lorica hamata. 

e This was a wooden shaft either square or round, four and one-half feet long, with an 
iron head of about the same length. 

7 Parma. B Hastai wlitares. 

9 In the second Punic war the Romans began to make use of sagittari and funditores 
to oppose the Balearic archers and slingers employed by Hannibal. These consisted 
of foreign mercenaries, Numidians, Mauritanians, Cretans, etc., or of allies. 

J0 Tribuni militum. At first the consul nominated for the four legions, which 
it was customary to raise the twenty-four military tribunes ; but since b. c. 3G2, six ; 
since b. c. 311, sixteen ; and since b. c. 257, all the twenty-four tribunes were elected 
by the people in the comitia tributa. While the people continued to elect the tribunes 
for the first four legions, the consul, as the army beca-ne larger, nominated the others ; 
hence the distinction tribuni militum a populo and tribuni militum Rvfuli (Livy, vii., 5), 
so called in honor of Rutilius Ruf us. 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 



371 



qualification from 11000 asses to 4000, 1 and finally under Marius 
this was abolished altogether, and the legion was recruited from 
all classes of Roman citizens without distinction of property. 
When the Italians were admitted to full citizenship, enlist- 
ments were carried on for the army throughout Italy as in 




Slinger. Legionary. Lictor. Knight. 

Eome. From this time the army consisted of two classes, the 
legionaries and the auxiliaries 2 of the provincials, and of the 
allied kings and peoples. 

12. The Legion in the Time of Marius. — Formerly every 
citizen whose fortune exceeded 4000 asses was subject to military 
service, and could be called upon to serve twenty campaigns in 
the infantry, or ten in the cavalry. # From the time of Marius, 
the soldier after his enlistment remained constantly with the 

1 After the capiti censi were admitted to military service, other changes occurred. In 
the Social war freedmen were enlisted who had formerly served in the fleet only ; in the 
civil wars legions were enlisted in the provinces, legiones vernaculoe, and finally gladia- 
tors and slaves were equipped as soldiers, which only once before had been done, that 
was after the battle of Cannae. 2 Auxilia. 



372 THE MILITAEY OKGANEZATIOX. 



army for twenty years, unless exceptionally discharged. The 
four old divisions, hastati, principes, triarii, and velites were 
given up, and every one admitted to the legion was assigned a 
place at the discretion of the officer. The legion consisted of 
ten cohorts of 600 men each, drawn up sometimes in one line, 1 
usually, however, in three. The whole legion was equipped 
alike. There was only one standard, those of the old legion 
being superseded by the silver eagle, carried by the first 
century of the first cohort. The place of the velites was 
supplied by foreign mercenaries — as the slingers 2 from the 
Balearic islands, the bowmen 3 from Crete, and the javelin 
men 4 from Mauritania — and other light armed auxiliaries. The 
general had a body-guard — the praetorian cohort of about 500 
volunteers — which received higher pay and were exempt from 
encamping and intrenching service. The cavalry was recruited 
almost entirely from the provincials, from the Gauls, Spaniards, 
Thracians, Numidians and also German mercenaries. It was 
divided into turmce and decurice, and was commanded by 
prcefecti alarum; the few Eoman equites present with the 
legion acted as aides-de-camp to the general, or in some other 
post of special honor. In addition to these must be reckoned 
the auxiliary troops, which also consisted of infantry and cavalry. 
The number was not fixed, but varied as occasion required. 
They were divided into cohorts, but in regard to the manner 
in which they were commanded and organized, the original 
authorities have not left sufficient information. 

13. The Legion in the Time of Caesar. — Nothing was 
done by Caesar in regard to the army further than improving 
its discipline, appointing adjutants and enacting that three 
years' service in the cavalry and six in the infantry was neces- 
sary in order to hold a municipal office before the age of thirty. 
There is no means of determining the normal number in a 
legion in the time of Caesar. It is estimated at about 5000. 5 

1 This was the usual order of battle with the Cimbri ; the arrangement of the army 
in one (acies simplex), two (acies duplex), or three lines {acies triplex) as occasion 
required, was customary. 

2 Funditores. 3 Sagittarii. * Jaculatores. 

5 Goler (Er. u. das rom. Kriegswesen, p. 43), and Lange, p. 18, estimate it at 5100, 
viz. : 10*cohorts of 480 men each and 300 antisignani. 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 



373 



The actual number in field service was usually very much less. 
According to Kiistow, 1 the legion was divided into ten cohorts 
of 300 to 360 men each ; each cohort into three maniples of 
100 to 120 men each ; each maniple into two centuries of 50 or 
60 men each = 3000 or 3600 men in a legion. The officers 
were military tribunes and centurions as formerly. 

14. Order of Battle. — When in order of battle, the three 
maniples in a cohort formed a line in the following order from 
right to left, pilani, principes, hastati ; the centuries in a 
maniple were arranged behind each other, 12 men in the 
front line and ten deep, viz. : 




BBBBK 
BBHBB 
BiBBB 
EBEBB' 
BEBBE 
BBBBB 
BBBBB 
BPBBH 
B E B E B 
EBBBB 



March to right flank 



BBHBBEB A 
HBBUBBH. 
B E E. B E B m 
BBBBBBB 
E BE EEEB 
BBBBBBB BJ 
E BE BE EE 
BBBBBBB 
BBBBBBB 
BE.BBBBB) 



360 men M 




The order of the cohorts in the legion, 2 were as in the fol- 
lowing figure : 3 This was the usual order of battle. 4 If there 
were six legions, 24 cohorts formed the first line, 18 the 



1 Heerswesen u. Kriegs f . p. 3 fT . 

2 Offensive. 

3 In front the legion extended 840 feet, in depth about 600 feet. The intervals 
between the two lines was 250 feet ; between the cohorts in the front line about 120 feet. 
See p. 374. 

1 Acies triplex ; Goler (Die Karapfe bei Dyrrachium u. Pharsalus, p. 123 fT) thinks that 
Caesar arranged his army in line of battle either in three corps or divisions (acies 
triplex) beside each other, or in two corps (acies duplex), or in one (acies simjMx), but the 
divisions or corps were always beside each other in one line. 



374 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 



czf c^f d^ 

prima acies 



czF 



£f 



^T 



Secunda acies 



^ 



Ef ^ i^T 

tertia acies 



second, and 18 the third, the latter being regarded as the 

reserve. 1 The cavalry, divided 
into turmcB and commanded by 
a decurio, was generally stationed 
on both wings ; sometimes, as at 
Pharsalus, wholly on one; and 
occasionally, as at Bibracte, be- 
hind the legion. The defensive 
order of the legion when not in 

one line, was as in the following figure. 2 

15. The Pay of the Army.— We have 
already mentioned that the infantry received 
regular pay from the state after the begin- 
ning of the siege of Veji in b. c. 406. 3 The 
cost of the clothes, weapons, and rations 
furnished by the state were deducted from 
the pay. In the time of Polybius the pay of a legionary 
was ^ of a denarius or 3|- asses, or about seven cents per 
day ; that of a centurion twice as much, and that of an eques, 
one denarius or about 20 cents. 4 Caesar 5 fixed the annual pay 
at 225 denarii equal to about $37 for each soldier, payable in 
three installments of 75 denarii each. 6 The pay remained as 
fixed by Caesar until the time of Domitian. 7 

16. The Equipments. — The equipment of the Eoman 
soldier was very burdensome. Although wagons were pro- 
vided for the baggage, tents, instruments for grinding corn, 
etc., still each soldier had to carry in addition to his shield, 




helmet and breastplate, a pilum, a sword, corn for seventeen 



1 Sometimes the legion was formed in one line {acies simplex), sometimes two {acies 
duplex), and occasionally four {acies quadruplex). 

- Orbis. This is Riistow's explanation. Rosh and Marquardt think the men that 
were in the orbis did not form a hollow square, but srood in a dense mass ; the orbis 
in the line of battle was the same as the agmen quadratum on the line of march. 

3 Previous to this time the equites had received a sum {aes equestre) to purchase and 
keep {aes hordearium) their horses ; but the support of the infantry was borne by the 
tribes. What the pay was at this time is a matter of conjecture. Mommsen (Rom. 
Tribus, p. 43) sets it at 290 asses or pounds of copper yearly = 1200 sextans for ten months . 

* For 380 days this amounts to 120 denarii, or to 1200 asses for the soldier, 2400 for 
the centurion, and 3600 for the eques. It is not known when this law came into opera- 
tion ; in b. c. 217 the as was reduced to a uncia, making 16 asses to a denarius, instead 
of 10 as formerly ; reckoned in uncial asses, the pay was 1920 asses, or 5^ daily. 

5 Suet. Cass., 26. 

6 A day laborer earned in Rome at this time f of a denarius per day, and if we 
reckon 300 working days, he earned about the same as a soldier. 7 See p. 457, n. 3. 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION 375 

days, sometimes for a month, one or more stakes for forming 
the palisade of the camp, and intrenching tools. 1 

17. The System of Encampment. — About the time 
that the manipular legion took the place of the phalanx, a 
regular system of intrenching the camp was developed. The 
place where the army encamped, even for a single night, was 
selected with care ; it must be easily defensible and accessible 
to wood and water, and provided with a regular system of 
fortifications. The system of encampment varied consider- 
ably at different times, and as its most essential features 
are important for all who wish to understand the most 
common descriptions of the movements of the army, we shall 
consider it under three periods, viz.: I. In the days of the 
republic. IT. In the time of Caesar. III. Under the empire. 

18. First Period. — Polybius has given a description of 
the Eoman camp in the time of the republic, for a consular 
army of two legions and the contingent from the allies, 
amounting to about 18000 infantry and 2400 cavalry. 2 The 
situation for encamping was generally selected by a tribune 3 and 
with several centurions detailed for the purpose. The front 
side 4 of the camp was turned, according to Polybius, in that 
direction where wood and water could be most easily obtained. 
After a general survey of the ground, a spot was selected which 
would afford a good view of the whole camp ; this was called 
the praetorium, or tent of the consul. 5 It was in the form of a 
square, each side of which was 50 Roman feet. The whole 
camp was laid out a square of 2150 6 Eoman feet. As fortifica- 
tions, a ditch was dug inside and a mound raised, and other 
defences were constructed that are not fully described by Poly- 

1 Some of the soldiers, if not all, carried intrenching tools — saws and baskets, etc., 
(Josephus iii., 5, § 5) ; the whole amounted, according to Yegetius (i., 19), to 60 Roman 
pounds = about 45 pounds avoirdupois. 

-If we estimate the legion at 4200. 

3 It was not until a later time that the place was selected by castrorum metatores. 

4 According to Hyginus, who left a description of the camp in the time of Trajan, the 
front side was turned towards the enemy. Differences of opinion prevail in regard to 
the side on which the porta prcetoria was, but Nissen seems to have satisfactorily proved 
that the front side contained the porta prcetoria. Marquardt (Rom. Staats., p." 401) has 
accepted this view ; on the opposite side was the port a decuman a. 

5 So called from praetor, the original designation of the chief commander. 

6 This is the distance as estimated by Nissen, and it has been accepted by Marquardt 
(1. c. p. 402); formerly the distance was estimated at 2017 Roman feet. 



376 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 



bius. Parallel with the front side of the praetorium and extend- 
ing 50 feet from it, were the tents of the tribunes. In front of 
these, running from side to side, was one of the two chief roads, 
the via principalis or principia, 100 feet wide, which divided 

The Camp as described by Polybius 

Porta . f praetoria 



150 50 100 100 50 50 100 50 100 50 50 100 100 50 150 







m 


02 


"•3 


'3 


Ph 


&T" 







Praefecti socior. 


Legati 


Pedites 
delecti 


Equites 
delecti 







OQ 


O 







I 1 

W 03 







02 


02 

o 


W 


s 







Via Quintana 







s 

P3 















_ 'c3 — 
m 











3 


g 


3 


3 


o 


o 

m 











S 


CO 

"3 

OL 



(3=1 ^ 







m 
o 


el 







principalis 



IE 



Quaestorium 



tes 


ex - 


Pedites 


ex - 



tra 


ordi -• 


traordi 


narii 







02 


cc 


'3 


3 


W 


fc 







Legati 


Praefecti socior. 


Equites 
delecti 


Pedites 
delecti 



Auxilia 



400 50 400 

Porta i I decumana 



the camp into two nearly equal parts. 1 In the front half were 
the two legions and the contingent from the allies. It will be 
noticed from the annexed plan that there were four gates 
defended by barriers and towers, two principal streets, and 
that a clear space 2 between the ramparts and the tents of 200 

1 From a point in front of the prcetorium determined by the groma, a road 50 feet 
wide was made, running to the two principal portce. 2 Intervallum. 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 



377 



t 



Plan of 
CAESARS CAMP 

porta x>v|ietoria 



12 





X 




X 



I Legat.Trib | 



2 1 


H 


H 


h 


H 






to 


XX 




to 


X 








K1 


Leyat. Trib 




GO 



r^. 



OS 




X 


© 






CO 




X 


C3 

CO 






CO 
CO 




^ 

m 


CO 



Viaprivcip a Us 



w 

A | 




Via quintana 



K 



CO 




Aux 


o 

1 


Aux 






o 

00 




Aux 


Aux 






00 
















is 


H 


8 S 


f Q 






6 s 


3 S 


is 


9 9 



i) 



feet was left to facilitate the marching in and out of the sol- 
diers. The space that the legions and contingents of the allies 
occupied, the position of the other streets, and all the most 
important details pertaining to the camp, can be understood at 
a glance from the plan. 1 

19. The Guard 
of the Camp. —The 
velites bivouacked 
outside of the camp 
and kept guard by 
night and day along 
the ramparts and be- 
fore the gates. Be- 
sides these, guards 
were selected from 
the liastati and 
principes, for day 2 
and night 3 sendee. 
Four maniples took 
charge of the wide 
street via princi- 
palis, while the re- 
maining thirty-six 
maniples were as- 
signed to the twelve 
tribunes to pitch, 
and remove their 
tents, and to keep 
watch before the 
same. The watchword 4 was given by the general on small 
tablets of wood. The signal for breaking up the camp, striking 
the tents and packing the baggage, was given by ike primi pili 
by means of a trumpet. 5 

1 On the front side of the prcetorium was the ara where the commander sacrificed, 
on the left side the contioneswere held, and the tribunal was there from which the general 
addressed the troops, pronounced decisions, etc. The augnrale was used only for 
auspicia ex tripudiis (see p. 38. n. 2, and p. ) ; see plan, p. 377. 

- ijxeubfoz, 3 YigiliWi 4 Tessera, 5 Bucinator, 



JJ 



porta decumana 



378 THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 

20. The Camp in the Time of Caesar. 1 — Very essential 
alterations took place in the camp after the Social war when 
full citizenship was conferred upon the Italian allies. Al- 
though sufficient material from any of the old authorities 
is not at hand for a full description of the camp at this time, 
yet Rustow's investigations has satisfactorily determined its main 
features. The form of the camp 2 was oblong, the corners being 
rounded off, the length being to the width as 3 to 2. The space 
between the ramparts and the tents was only 120 feet. The 
camp was divided into three equal parts by the two main 
streets, via principalis and via quintana. In the first part 3 
was encamped next to the ramparts about one-fourth or one- 
fifth of all the cohorts. Between these on either side of the 
via prcetoria were the spaces for the legati and the tribunes, one- 
fourth of the cavalry and one-half of the artillery. In the 
central part 4 was encamped one-fifth of all the cohorts, all the 
staff officers except the legati and tribunes, the praetorian 
cohorts and one-half of the cavalry. Here was also the altar 5 
for worship and the tribunal. In the back part, 6 on either side 
of the quc&storum, were the rest of the cohorts, about half of 
the whole number, foreign ambassadors, prisoners and host- 
ages. The situation of the legions and of the different cohorts 
and all the most important details can be understood at once 
from the annexed plan 7 (see p. 377). 

21. The Tents of the Cohort. — In the camp each 
cohort had a space of 120 feet front by 180 deep. One-sixth 
of this (30 feet deep and 120 front) was for each century. 8 
Erom the front, twelve feet were taken for the street, leaving 
eighty feet for the eight tents (six for the soldiers, one for the 
centurions, and one for the servants), and twenty-eight feet 
for the seven intervals between the tents. Of the thirty feet 
in depth for each century, six feet was used for the street, 

1 See plan, p. 373. 2 Castra azstiva. 

3 Frwtentura. 4 Latera prcelorii. 5 Ara. 6 Retentura. 

7 The sides of the camp varied according to the number of cohorts '^ the length of 
the front side can be obtained from the following formula : s = 200 \/<x ; a being the 
number of cohorts ; the length = f s. 

8 There were six centuries in each cohort, divided into three manipuli, viz. : pilani, 
principes and hastati. 



THE MILITAET ORGANIZATION". 



379 



unnnnnnr 



□□□□□□□a 

Pi.2. 

pnn ffn nan 



JDDDDDDC/ 

Pr.2. / 

unnnbnnr 



ten for the tents, five for the arms, and nine for the animals, 
This will be understood from the following plan : 

22. The Camp in the Time 
of the Empire. — Under the 
empire the army became a per- 
manent organization aud the 
number of legions was largely 
increased. Under Augustus 
there was twenty-five, 1 under 
Septimius Severus thirty -three, 
and after the admission of the 
barbarians into the army, the 
number increased enormously, 
while the strength of each legion 
decreased. 2 The chief authori- 
ties for this period are Hyginus 
and Vegetinus, the former of 
whom describes the system of encampment, and the latter, the 
organization of the army. Josephus, the Jewish historian, 
carefully observed the Eoman encampments, and gives many 
details that form a useful supplement to Hyginus. 3 

23. Military Engines. — It only remains to add a few 
words in regard to the military engines 4 used by the Romans. 
The Romans made but little advancement in this method of 
warfare until their acquaintance with the Greeks. In besieg- 
ing a town, 5 the chief difficulties to contend with were the 
trenches and walls. 6 The trenches had to be filled up before 



nnnnnnr 



1 The first information we have in regard to the army of Augustus is from Tacitus 
(Ann. iv., 5), in the year a.d. 23, when there were twenty-five (see p. 429) ; Mommsen 
(Res gestce Dim Augusti, p. 49) thinks that Augustus retained after the peace only 
eighteen legions ; see p. 429. 

2 In the fifth century there were 175 legions ; each legion was decreased on account 
of sickness, desertion and dismissals. Zosimus (v. 45) mentions five legions that num- 
bered only 6,000 men in all. 

3 The organization of the army under Diocletian and Constantine was too complex 
to be entered into here ; for a description of the Roman camp as given by Hyginus, the 
pupil is referred to the classical dictionary. The teacher will find the most reliable in- 
formation in regard to the army and camp in Marquardt's Staatverwaltung, p. 429 if. 

* Tormenta. 5 Obsidio. 

6 If the town was small and accessible on all sides and the besieging army large, the 
town was assaulted (urbem oppugnare). A ring of soldiers was drawn around the walls 
(oppidum corona cingere), a part of whom discharged their missiles upon those manning 
the walls, while the others advanced protected by their shields joined above their heads 
so a? to conform a covering like the shell of the tortoise (testudo) to plant scaling 
jadde.rs (scales) ancl to burst in the gates. 



380 



THE MILITAEY OKGANIZATION. 



the walls could be attacked. This was done with fascines and 
earth. Then the wooden besieging towers and battering 
rams were pushed forward. On the different stories of these 
towers, which were higher than the walls, were placed soldiers 
armed with missiles to clear the walls or to cross to them by 
•means of the drawbridges. The long beams of the battering 




Besieging Tower. 

rams 1 with iron heads, suspended under u roof 2 were then 
swung backwards and forwards to make a breach in the walls. 
These engines were supported by the artillery, the catapults and 
lallistw, the former of which projected darts, and the latter 
hurled stones or balls against the besieged. 



7 Aries. 



Vinea, 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION'. 



381 




Catapulta. 



24. Manner of Besieging a City.— In besieging a. city 
the battering ram was generally brought up to destroy the 
lower part of the wall, the balUstce to overthrow the battle- 




Balwst^j. 



382 



THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 




THE MILITARY ORGAKIZATIOH. 383 

ments, 1 and the catapults to shoot the besieged. In order to 
protect the soldiers who were engaged in filling up the ditch or 
working the engines of war, 2 from the missiles of the besieged, 
a large number of wooden sheds 3 with strong roofs covered 
with hides or other incombustible material and open at both 
ends, but protected at the sides and placed on rollers, were 
pushed forward. In order to annoy the defenders a mound 
of earth 4 was thrown up, and as it advanced to the points 
selected for attack it was raised in elevation to equal that of 
the walls. On this mound the towers 5 were constructed, from 
the successive stories of which the archers hurled their weapons 
on the besieged. Sometimes mines supported by beams were 
dug under the fortifications. 

24. Manner of Defence. — In defence the besieged dug 
counter mines, burned the beams that the walls might give way, 
hurled from the walls of the town darts, stones and fire, threw the 
besieging ladders back with forks 6 or seized those on them by 
means of tongs 7 and drew them within the walls with cranes. 8 
To divert the action of the battering-ram, large stones were 
lowered by ropes, and pinchers were used to catch hold of it, 
or sand-bags were let down to neutralize its force. 9 



1 Propugnacula. 

2 Such as the artillery already mentioned, and falces murales, for loosening the stones 
in the wall ; terebrce, for boring into the wall ; dolabrce (known to antiquarians under the 
name of ' celts ' from the old Latin word celtes, a chisel); axes for removing stones in the 
walls. 

3 Called, according to their form, mriCB, testudines as all these sheds with roofs were 
called, or in special cases testudo arietaria, piutei (sheds), musculi wooden sheds covered 
with a roof which was pushed against the wall to protect the sappers who are employed 
in undermining the wall. 

4 Agger. 5 Turres. 6 Furcoa. 7 Forfex lupus. 

8 For the manner of besieging a city in the time of Caesar, see Gallic war, viL, 69. 

9 A catapult weighed from 80 to 600 pounds, and cost 480 drachmae, about $100. The 
ballista weighed between 50 and 200 cwt. and cost sometimes as much as 2000 drachmae 
= $400. Three sizes of the ballista are mentioned by historians, viz., those that threw 
stones weighing from 2 to 50 pounds (Vitr. x., 11), from 50 to 100. and from 100 to even 
360 pounds (Diod. xx., 48). The range of a ballista was from 375 to 1000 paces. The 
besieging tower or walking tower (turris ambulatoria) was often of immense size, the 
smallest having, according to Diades, a height of 90 feet by a base of 25| square, and 
containing 10 stories connected to one another by steps. The highest story or upper 
platform, covered with a roof, was the place for the light artillery, while the water 
and various contrivances for extinguishing flames were kept in the bottom story. A 
drawbridge {pons) was constructed from the tower to the walls of the city. The 
Romans lirst learnt the use of the ballistae at the siege of Syracuse, when Archimedes, 
by means of these machines, hurled stones weighing 1200 pounds upon the vessels 
of the Romans lying in the harbor. Not many of these engines w T ere used by the 
Romans until the time of the empire. When a standing army was established 
a certain amount of artillery was attached to each legion (Tac. Hist, ui,, 23, 39)* 



THE MARKERS AND CUSTOMS. 385 



chapter x/vt. 

Manners and Customs, Education, Private and 
Domestic Life. 

1. The Streets; Public Buildings; the Forum. — As 

the Eomans advanced in refinement, culture and wealth, they 
gradually relaxed from their old austerity and simplicity. 
After Eome had outgrown the other Latin towns and become 
the capital of Italy, the narrow and irregular streets, 1 often 
overhung and darkened by wooden dwelling-houses, to which 
story after story had been added, as the population of 
the city increased, seemed mean and insufficient. Gradually, 
however, the sediles paved the streets, and after the Gallic con- 
flagration, public buildings of considerable splendor were 
constructed. Still, Eome remained even to the end of the 
republic, a net-work of crooked, narrow lanes, along which 
shops and houses of poor and mean appearance were con- 
structed. There were not more than two streets in Eome suita- 
ble for heavy carriages to pass in, and through the others the 
litters of the wealthy struggled to force their way through the 
crowd. The butchers' shops in the forum gave place to the 
beautiful porticoes, where silversmiths and bankers carried on 
their business. Various works of art 2 were also erected in the 
forum, most of them being the spoils from Etruria 3 and the 
Greek cities in Southern Italy or in the provinces. Here also 

1 It was on account of the narrowness.of the streets and not, as the Roman poets tell 
us, to restrain luxury, that no one except the vestal virgins and the Roman matrons was 
allowed to drive in a carriage in the city. 

2 As the statue of Attus Navius, that of Horatius. of Codes, of Clcelia, of Brutus, 
a bronze figure of the suckling she-wolf (still preserved in the Capitoline museum) ; it is 
in Etruscan style and possibly the same which the sediles Gnseus and Quintius Ogulnius 
erected in b. o, 296. Here were also the Ficus Buminalis, the sacred fig tree, a statue of 
Marsyas, and the ancient statues of the Sibyls. 

3 When Volsinii was captured, 2000 statues were taken to Rome.— Plin. Nat. EisL 
xxxiv., 7, 16. 

17 



386 



A PLAK OE THE FORUM. 




was the temple of Vesta, and the regia or official dwelling- 
house of the chief pontiff. Besides these buildings there was 
the senate-house, on either side of which two magnificent 
basilicae 2 were constructed. On the south side was the famous 



* The Volcanal was a space dedicated to Vnlcanus ; the grcecostasis was a raised plat- 
form on which foreign ambassadors stood while waiting to be admitted to the senate. 
The forum on both sides was lined with shops itabernoe). The row on the south side 
was erected first and was therefore called veteres tabernce ; those on the north side, novce 
tabernce. The Fornix Fabianus was an arch erected to Q. Fabius Maximus. The rostra 
was the elevated platform from which people were addressed (so-called because it was 
adorned with the beaks of the ships taken from the Antiates (b. c. 338). In the hollow- 
between the two tops of the Capitoline hill was. said to be the spot where Romulus formed 
his asylum. The columna Mceniaw&s said to be so called because Maenias, when he sold 
his property for the basilica Porcia (this, erected in b. c. 184, was the first basilica), 
reserved one column from which he and his descendants conld see the gladiatorial 
games. At a later time the courts (triumviri capi f ales) were held h^re. Near the prison 
were the scalce Gemonice on which the bodies of criminals who had been put to death 
were exposed ; for a notice of the other buildings and localties, see pp. 

- These were covered porticoes in which persons met to transact business ; in these 
the courts of law sat ; many of them were converted into churches in the time of Con- 
stantine (see p. 501, n. 6). 



ROMAK HOUSES. 



387 



temple of Castor and Pollux, while under the Capitoline hill 
were the temples of Saturn and Concord, 1 and the tabularium 
or record office, where the state papers were kept. Towering 
above all and overlooking the forum was the temple of Jupiter 
on the Capitoline hill, with its summit decorated with the four- 
horse chariot brought from Etruria. 

2. Roman Houses. — For many centuries the houses of the 
Eomans were poor, one story high, without chimneys, the smoke 




The Atrium. 

escaping through the doors, windows 2 or the opening 3 in the 
atrium, 4 which was covered with straw, shingles, or unbaked clay. 
The interior of the house consisted of the atrium only, in 
which was the household altar, the marriage-bed, the table for 
meals, and the hearth. Here, in the olden time, stood the 
images of the ancestors, though this custom lost its signifi- 
cance and became obsolete, when many whose ancestors had 
held no curule office, became wealthy, assumed high-sounding 
names, and lived in magnificent edifices. As wealth began to 



1 See p. 213. 

a These were mere openings through the walls closed by shutters ; later, windows of 
transparent stone were made "and under the empire, glass was used. 3 Impluvium, 
4 That is, the "blackened 11 chamber, 



388 



R0MAK HOUSES. 



flow into Home from the provinces, houses 1 of great splendor 
were erected, and finally, when the Eomans began to vie with 




The Vestibule. 3 
(The House of Pansa.) 

each other in displaying the spoils that their rapacity had 
wrung from the provincials, marble palaces arose, adorned 

1 The Roman of wealth occupied the whole of his house ; others rented, according to 
their means, either a whole house or a flat of some large insula, the name by which all 
hired houses went. The poorer classes took a small rent in an upper story. Sulla paid 
for the ground floor of a house in the capital a rent of 3009 sesterces a year, and the 
tenant of the upper story, 2000. We learn from Cicero (p. Csel., c. 7), that lodgings 
rented as high a? 39,000 sesterces ($1200). Caelius paid only 10,000. The usual time for 
moving was the Kalends of July. 

a Or profhyrum, according to the description of Vitrivius, vi., 86, the vestibule is an 
open place before the house ; but in the excavations at Pompeii, in no instance has a 
house been found with a vestibulum before it. Beyond the vestibulum is the atrium, 
the roof of which is supported by beams crossing each other at right angles (i. e., tusca- 



FURNITURE. 



389 



with marble columns 1 and decorated in the most costly manner. 
The pavements were often inlaid with mosaics, and at the 
entrance of the house was carved the word salve, " welcome/' 
though sometimes the less friendly greeting canem cave, "be- 
ware of the dog/' is found. Separate rooms were afterwards 
set apart for cooking, for banquets, for the domestics, a private 
chapel for the gods, and the atrium, in the houses of the great 
was used solely for the reception of clients and friends who come 




Room of a Person of Rank in Rome. 



to pay their respects or to seek help or legal advice, or to learn 
their patron's plans for the day. 

3. Furniture. — The rooms in the houses of the wealthy 
were often furnished with great splendor and magnificence. 
Expensive cedar-tables, veneered with ivory ; dinner couches of 
bronze, richly adorned with silver and gold, and often inlaid 
with tortoise-shell ; seats of cedar-wood and ivory ; the magnifi- 
.cent candelabra, the elegant lampadaria, and lamps of various 
patterns ; vases, costly mirrors, urns, incense-burners, and costly 

nium). The roof is supported by four pillars, one at each corner of the impluvium. 
The roof slopes so as to conduct the water into the compluvium (reservoir). Beyond the 
impluvium is the altar, where the penates were worshipped. The tablinum, with its 
pavement of mosaic, leads to the perUtylum, where the most intimate friends were 
received. The triclinium is in the rear and to the right of the peristylum. 
1 Marble columns were first used by L. Crassus. a Foculi. 



390 



pla:n" of a house. 



goblets, many colored carpets from Babylon and Alexandria, 
beautiful chairs/ and hundreds of other objects, filled the mag- 
nificent palaces and villas of persons of wealth and distinction. 
The walls were usually brightly colored and adorned with fres- 
coes — paintings from the stories of Grecian mythology, scenes 
from daily life, landscapes — some of which have been preserved 
almost in their original freshness. In the houses of persons of 
rank, the vestibule was ornamented with masterpieces of Gre- 
cian sculpture, the walls overlaid with costly foreign marble, and 
the doors and door-posts richly decorated with tortoise-shell and 
gold and silver. 2 

1 The paintings at Pompeji show that the chairs used by the Romans were very various 
and many of them remarkably like ours. The general word for chair was sella ; those 
that "bore particular designations were the solium, with a back and arms, the legs often 
beautifully carved ; the cathedra, or easy chair, with stuffed back, gently sloping, but 
without arms. The small foot-stools were called scabella. 

2 The principal parts of a Roman house will be understood from the following plan 
of the remains of a house (house of Pansa) found at Pompeji : 




Plan of a Roman House. 

The ostium, janua or fores* the entrance leads to the (1) vestibulum. In order to recon- 
cile the description of a Roman house, as given by Vitruvius, with the remains found at 
Pompeji, we might consider the small space before the door as the vestibulum, and the 
remaining space before one enters the atrium, as the vrothyrum ; at the side of 1 was a 
small room ' K cella) for the porter (janitor) and the watch-dog ; 2 is the spacious atrium : 
in the houses of the middle and poorer classes this was the sitting-room and kitchen ; 
here was the bed, the instruments for spinning and weaving. In the houses of the wealthy, 
this was the reception-room for clients who came to ask their patron for advice or help, and 
visitors who came every morning to pay their respects or solicit favors. Here the images 
of the dead were exposed. In the roof there was an opening for the admission of light and 
escape of smoke, in later times, when whole troops of people crowded the houses of 
the rich and noble, the arrangement of the atrium was changed. The hearth and 
kitchen were removed to another part of the building, while the lares were placed in a 

a The doors did not move on hinges, but on pivots let into the lintel or stone sill ; there 
were knockers on the doors ; the door was fastened ivith a bolt or bar ; inside doors by 
the keys are of all sizes and often of peculiar shape. 



METHOD OF WARMING. 



391 



4. Method of Warming. — The houses were heated either 
by means of a fireplace l or a portable furnace, many specimens 
of which have been found at Pompeji. Sometimes rooms were 
heated by hot air, introduced by pipes from a furnace below. 
Eooms intended for winter use were on the sunny side of the 
house, and as the climate was mild this enabled the occupants 
to dispense with artificial heat. 




Cooking Utensils. 

a, b, c, (cyathi), trua and trulla, ladles for drawing wine from deep casks : e, d, ladles for 
dipping water, gravy or soup ; /, resembles our saucepan ; g, a two-handled vessel 
for kitchen use ; h, sartagp, shaped like our pans : i, a pan for poaching eggs ; k, a 
kind of metal sieve for straining wine ; I, coal scoop'; m and n, cochlear, ligula, spoon, 
one of which resembles a fork. 

5. Cooking Utensils. — In early times the food was 
cooked in the atrium, but when this became the reception- 
special chapel (sacrarium). In the floor of the atrium was a cistern (impluvium) for the 
rain water a which came through the opening in the top (complumum). On the right 
were stairs leading to the second story where the rooms for the servants were ; six side- 
rooms (cubicula) communicate with the atrium by doors, the two other rooms being 
without doors are called alee or sidewings of the atrium. Here were rooms for guests 
and the family, the walls of which were often decorated with paintings and frescoes. 

4 is the tablinum, a part of the atrium, where the archives {tabula) were. This was the 
original Roman house. When the atrium was used for visitors, other rooms were added ; 

5 was a passage, sometimes passages (fauces) to the peristylium (7), similar to the atrium, 
surrounded with marble (8) columns and intended for the master of the house and his 
friends ; here was a fountain. Around the peristylium were the sleeping apartments 
(cubicula) of the family, and dressing rooms and alcoves. The large room to the right 
was the triclinium or the dining-hall, where the couches (triclina) were placed on 
three sides of the rooms, the other being left open for entrance. There were two 
sets of dining-rooms, one for summer and one for winter. In 9 the guests assembled 
(oecus). Larger entertainments were given in the atrium ; 10 is a corridor communicating 
with the oecus. To the left of the corridor was the kitchen, and another room for wash- 
ing the dishes ; 11 is a garden with regularly shaped beds ; 12 is an open hall. The house 
is surrounded on four sides by streets. Part of the facade and the right side are rooms 
used for various purposes, partly as sho'»s and partly let to lodgers, and one connected 
With the atrium was sometimes used by the master for business. 

1 Foculi ; the Romans had no proper stoves. 

a The roof sloped so as to throw the water into the cistern. 



392 METHOD OF LIGHTING. 

room, the kitchen 1 was removed to another part of the house. 
In the houses of the rich, the grain was usually ground with 
hand-mills, while the middle classes bought their meal or 
bread at the bakery. Among the numerous cooking and 
household utensils may be mentioned stoves, knives and per- 
haps forks, strainers, frying-pans, vessels 2 for boiling water, 
kettles 3 for hanging over the fire and cooking food, sieves, 4 
spoons, 5 ladles, 6 mortars, 7 coal-scoops, andirons, steelyards, and 
implements 8 for cleaning the walls, floor, ceiling, and fur- 
niture. 

6. Method of Lighting. — Although the Eomans displayed 
great ingenuity in constructing beautiful lamps from bronze 
and precious metals, still they were unable to devise any 
method to prevent the ornamented ceiling of their rooms from 
being blackened and their breath oppressed by the smoke. 
Their oil-lamps 9 were without chimneys to consume the smoke; 
and were either suspended by chains from the ceiling or placed 
on a candelabrum. 10 The wicks w^ere made of the tow taken 
from flax, and the instrument for trimming the wick was often 
attached to the lamp by a chain. Many very beautiful lamps 
of bronze and terra-cotta are still extant ; they are usually of 
a long, round form, flat and without feet. On the upper part 
where the oil ll was poured in, there are mythological designs 
in relief of great beauty. 12 The magnificent candelabra and 
lampadaria were the inventions of a later age. 13 

7. The Meals. — The Eomans were at first exceedingly 
simple in their mode of living ; but after the wars in the East, 
refined luxury displayed itself nowhere more prodigally than 
at the table. In early times a sort of hasty pudding made of 



1 Culina. 2 Mzliarium. 3 Ahcenium. * Cribrum. 

5 Cochlear. 6 Trvllce. 7 Pila. 8 Scopce. 9 Lucernce. 

10 Candles (candelce) either of wax (cerea) or tallow (sebacea) were used before lamps 
were invented ; the candelabrum was at first a candlestick, afterwards used to support 
lamps. ; the candelabra for candles were also called funalia ; the poorer classes used 
those made of wood ; they were sometimes constructed so that the lamps could be 
raised or lowered. * x Perfumed oil was often used. 

12 The name of the maker is often stamped on the bottom. 

13 The lychnuchi (pmsMes) were like our chandeliers ; the lampadaria were stems of 
trees, or pillars standing on a base from the top of which the lamps were suspended ; 
see engraving, p. 389- 



THE MEALS. 393 



farina 1 with vegetables, 2 fruits, 3 and dairy produce, constituted 
the principal articles of food. The Romans had three meals each 
day — a light breakfast/ at noon a lunch, 5 and towards evening 6 
came the dinner, which in the houses of the rich was often very 
bounteous and consisted of three courses. First 7 came fish, 
eggs, and various kinds of vegetables served with piquant 
sauces, intended to excite the appetite for the more substantial 
dishes which were to follow. Then came the courses 8 consist- 
ing of many dishes which it would be impossible to give a 
description of here. The favorite fish, which was the chief object 
of Roman epicurism, were the turbot, 9 the shell-fish, 10 oysters, 
and snails; the favorite poultry were peacocks, pheasants, 
pigeons, geese, f eld-fares, 11 ducks, and chickens. Among meats 
the greatest favorite was the tame and wild boar ; this was 
generally the chief dish and came whole oii the table. The 
practised gourmand pretended to be able to tell by the taste 
from what part of Italy it came. These courses were followed 
by a dessert of pastry, and fresh and dried fruits. The table 
was really the centre of the luxury of the Romans after the 
wealth of the East was placed at their disposal. Foreign 
delicacies, and wines became then indispensable. In spite of 
the sumptuary laws, meddling with the private affairs of life, 12 
which shallow moralists then as now advocated, the Romans 
displayed at their banquets their hosts of slaves, 13 their dancing 
girls, their rich furniture, their carpets glittering with gold, 
their antique bronzes, and their silver plate. 14 

1 The flour made from far, a kind of wheat. 

3 Legumina. 3 Olera. 

4 Jentaculum ; consisting of bread, seasoned with salt, with dried grapes, olives and 
cheese. 5 Prandium. 

6 At the ninth hour = in summer, 1| o'clock ; in winter, 2£ o'clock. 7 Gustus. 

8 Fercula : prima, altera, tertia cena. 9 Rhombus. 

10 Coc/ilce, ostrea, according to Pliny (N. H. xxxii, 6, 1) the palma mensarum divitum. 
1 x Turdus : this was a great luxury ; they were often sold, when fattened, for 3 denarii 
(nearly 40 cents) apiece. 

1 2 The expense of an ordinary meal was fixed in b. c. 161 at 10 sesterces (50 cents) ; in 
b. c. 81, at 30 sesterces ; for the same period the expenses allowed at banquets were 100 
and 300 sesterces. 

13 An exquisite cook cost 100,000 sesterces ($5,000), while an ordinary slave was 
worth only 100 sesterces. 

14 Scipio ^Emilianus possessed 32 pounds of silver plate ($600) ; Q. Fabius (cos. 
B. c. 121), 1000 pounds ($20;000) ; Marcus Drusus (trib. plebs. b. c. 91), 10,000 pounds 
(,$200,000); in the time of Sulla there were at Rome about 150 silver state dishes weigh- 
ing 100 pounds each, several of which caused their owners to be placed on the pro- 
scription list. 



394 TABLE USAGES. 



8. Table Usages. — When eating, the Eomans reclined on 
couches 1 which were placed on three sides of the room, 2 leaving 
the fourth free to give the slaves access to the table to arrange 
the dishes and also to hand round the meat and bread. Each 
couch held three, and the place of honor was on the middle 
one. 3 At a later time when round tables 4 came into use, the 
couches were changed for semicircular sofas. There were no 
table-cloths, but the tables themselves were often exquisite, 
being made of the finest polished 5 wood. Each guest brought 
with him a linen napkin 6 to fasten over his breast. Instead of 
knives 7 and forks, two spoons were used — the cochlear and 
ligula — both being pointed at the end. The food was served 
in a great variety of dishes, some round, flat, oval, and 
others hollow, with and without handles, which, as well as 
the different drinking vessels, it would be impossible to de- 
scribe here. 

9. The Roman Family. — The word family with the 
Eomans signified everything which a freeman had under his 
control, 8 and included persons whether free or slaves as well as 
articles of property. The word, however, was generally re- 
stricted to the members of the household, at the head of 
which stood the paterfamilias. Every free man not under the 
control of another was considered a paterfamilias. Sons, 
although married and having children, were not released from 
the authority of their father 9 until his death. If we count 
all the members of a family, the children and grandchildren, 
the slaves and clients, the whole under the control of the 
paterfamilias assumed a very important position in the 
state. Several families united to form a house, 10 and indicated 
their common descent by a family name. 11 In this way arose a 



1 Lecti triclimares. In the earlier ages these couches were not known ; the Romans 
used to eat sitting, a custom to which the women and children adhered. 

2 Triclinium. 

3 The lowest place on the middle one was the seat of honor ; the reverse on the 
others. 

* Pliny relates that Cicero paid as much as 1,000,000 sesterces for a table. 
5 Rubbed with gausapa. 6 Mappoe. 

7 Knives (struciores) were used at a later time. 8 In potestate. 

9 Patria potestas ; unless the son became a Jiamen Dialis, or the daughter a vestal 
virgin (virgo vestalis). 10 Gens. 11 Nomen gentile. 



HAMES. 395 



family pride which caused the members to preserve with great 
care the sanctuaries, the legends, and the exploits of their own 
house. In the course of time, as intercourse with foreign 
nations increased, the strict laws of the paternal authority 
were relaxed, and the ties that bound the members of a house * 
and of a family together were loosened. 

10. Names. — Every Koman had usually three names, the 
first denoting the person, as Marcus j 2 the second, the gens, as 
Tullius, and the third the family, as Cicero. A fourth or fifth 
name, called the agnomen was sometimes added on account of 
some illustrious actions or by adoption, or other circumstance. 
Thus the complete name of Scipio the Younger, was Publius 
Cornelius Scipio Africanus JEmilianus ; Af ricanus being added 
for his exploits in Africa, and ^Emilianus because he was 
adopted from the iEmilian gens. Women had no personal 
name, but bore only the name of the gens. Thus, the daughter 
of Cicero was called simply Tullia ; a younger sister would have 
been called Tullia secunda or (minor), tertia and so on. The 
wife of Cicero was Terentia. 

11. Marriage. — The Bonians had two forms of marriage; 5 
in one the woman passed entirely from the control 6 of her father 
into that of her husband; in the other, 7 she did not so pass, 
but remained subject to her father's authority. In order to 
bring about a lawful marriage of either kind, the parties must 
be of age, unmarried, and, until the passage of the Canuleian 
law in b. c. 445, 8 of equal rank. A marriage of the first kind 
could be contracted in three different ways, viz. : confarreatio, 
coemptio, i. e. fictitious purchase, or usus, i. e. prescription. 
The first had to take place in the presence of at least ten wit- 
nesses, the Pontifex Maximus, and the priest of Jupiter. 9 
A cake of sacred corn 10 was broken and tasted, and the mar- 
riage formula repeated. This form of marriage was confined 
exclusively to the patricians, and even after the passage of the 
Canuleian law, it could not be adopted by the plebeians. In 

1 Gens. 2 Pramomen. 3 Nomen. 4 Cognomen. 

5 Nuptioe, justce. 6 Manus. 7 Matrimoniumjustum. 8 See p. 72. 

9 Flamen Dialis. 10 Far, hence confarreatio. 



396 CHILDREN. 



the second form, or marriage by purchase, the father sold his 
daughter to the bridegroom in the presence of witnesses, and 
in the third kind 1 the wife passed to the control of the hus- 
band by liying with him during one whole year without absent- 
ing herself for three nights. The bridal ceremony was nearly 
the same in all. First came the betrothal and the presenta- 
tion of the ring. On the morning of the wedding day the 
auspices were first taken and then the marriage formula was 
pronounced, and the bride and bridegroom were led to the 
household altar to offer sacrifices. A cow, pig, and sheep 
were offered, while the augur repeated the usual prayer and 
the newly married pair walked around the altar hand in hand. 
When this was finished the guests offered their congratula- 
tions, 2 and the marriage feast began. When night came on 
the bride dressed in white covered with a yellow yeil, and hav- 
ing her hair parted into six locks with the point of a spear, and 
tied up with ribbons, was conducted by torch-bearers and flute- 
players to the house of her husband. When she reached her 
new home, she was lifted over the threshold lest her foot might 
stumble — omen of evil — into the atrium to share the "fire and 
water/' the emblems of the life which she was to lead with 
her husband. The next day a second marriage feast was held 
in her husband's house, and the new bride offered sacrifices to 
the gods of the family to which she had been admitted. In 
early times divorces were very rare, but as Eome began to 
decline they became easy and very common. The sanctity of 
the marriage tie was then but little regarded, and both men 
and women outbid each other in wanton indulgences. 

12. Children. — In early times the father had almost un- 
limited control 3 over the life and liberty of his children ; in 
fact they were regarded as property which the father could dis- 
pose of as he pleased. When any matter arose that affected 
the life and liberty of the child, it was usual for the father to 
summon a family council to pronounce sentence. The state, 



1 There was a less binding form which, under the emperors, superseded the others. 
3 In the word feliciter. a Potestas. 



MEDICAL MEK. 39? 



however, allowed the father, without the family council, to 
pass sentence * of banishment and even death. The right to 
pass sentence of death, like that of sale, although existing, was 
rarely exercised. The right of exposing or killing new-born 
children, which was common at Borne, as well as in Greece, 
was in early times limited by a law which enacted that no one 
should kill a son or first-born daughter, unless it was deformed. 
On the ninth 2 day after their birth, boys underwent a religious 
ceremony called lustratio, and received their name, 3 which 
was entered in the public register. The mother had charge of 
the children's early education, and she carefully taught them 
to worship the gods, to be truthful and honest, to love their 
country and obey its laws, and above all, to obey without ques- 
tioning. The mother was also very careful in selecting at- 
tendants to take charge of her children, that they might not 
hear any improper or incorrect expression. The authority of 
the father over his sons continued until his death, unless the 
son became a flamen Dialis, or was adopted into another 
family, or was voluntarily resigned. 4 

13. Medical Men. — The Eomans had no knowledge of 
medicine until they learned it from the Greeks. And even 
after Greek medical men 5 settled in Eome, it was some time 
before a regular profession was established. The patients were 
at first treated with certain old prescriptions and nostrums, and 
in cases of epidemics the anger of the gods was averted by 
consulting the Sibylline books. In the year b. c. 219 Archa- 
gathus, a Greek surgeon, 6 nicknamed on account of his burning 
and cutting, " the butcher/' settled in Eome, and his skill was 
acknowledged by the erection of a store for his use at the public 
expense and by presenting him the right of citizenship. Hence- 
forth physicians 7 became more numerous, and squabbled with 



1 If the father misused his power, the censor could interfere ; in later times the 
emperor ; and in about a. d. 200 the power was taken from the father by law. 

2 Girls, on the eighth day. 3 Prcenomen. 

4 This could be done by selling his son three times to a pater fiduciarius, who manu- 
mitted him according to a previously-made contract ; the third time the son received 
his liberty. s Medici. 6 Medicus vulnerum or chirurgus. 

7 Physicians sold their own drugs ; in Pompeji two chemists' shops have been found 
with signboards on which was painted the snake of the god ^sculapius. 



398 TKADES. 



each other in regard to remedies and methods. " Physicians 
disagree/' says Pliny, "only in order to avoid the appearance 
of consent ; hence the dreadful inscriptions on tombs — ' The 
number of his doctors has killed him.' " We know of no reg- 
ulations in regard to the amount of medical education neces- 
sary in early times to qualify a physician to practice at Rome. 
Under the empire/ this was under the supervision of the 
archiatri? who examined and appointed physicians 3 to reside 
in every town. 4 Toward the end of the republic, and especially 
in the time of the empire, when dissipation and hot-bathing 
produced frequent diseases of the eyes, oculists 5 appear as a 
separate class. Besides these we hear of dentists, of specialists 
for diseases of the ear, of lady physicians, of professional 
" rubbers," and of vendors of ointment, salves, and of various 
forms of quackery which the playwriters seized upon as a 
favorite subject for their satire. 6 

14. Trades. — A genuine Eoman considered all manual 
labor as beneath his dignity. Landed property on a large scale, 
and even speculation in state leases, were the only legiti- 
mate sources of income of a free Eoman. All retail traffic and 
even commerce, if not on a large scale, were little esteemed. 
Hence the practice of the trades and the retail traffic was given 
over to slaves, 7 freedmen, foreigners, and the lowest class of the 
plebeians. There existed at Rome various mechanics' guilds 8 

1 At the time of Nero. 

2 The archiatri palatii, the physicians of the palace ; and archiatri populares, those 
of the people. 

3 Physicians often received large incomes. Pliny (H. N. xxix., 5) mentions several 
whose income was 250,000 sesterces per annum (i. e. about $13,000). Q. Stertinus, body 
physician to Claudius, received from the emperor 500,000 sesterces and from his practice 
600,000 sesterces. 

4 These physicians received a regular salary from the town or city ; they were com- 
pelled to attend \he poor gratis, although they were allowed to receive fees from 
the rich. 5 Ocularii or medici ab cculis. 

6 In the excavations at Pompeji (in the strada Consolare), many surgical instruments 
have been discovered, as well as various medical substances, receptacles for drops, 
salves, and medicine-boxes made of bronze with beautiful covers inlaid with silver in 
which were little weights to determine the quantity of medicine. 

7 Among the slaves in a household of a wealthy Roman, were those who practised 
almost every trade— architects, tailors, hairdressers, valets, cooks of various kinds, 
musicians, physicians, surgeons, etc. 

8 Nine guilds, viz.: pipers, carpenters, goldsmiths, dyers, leather-workers, tanners, 
smiths, potters and one other combining all the remaining handicrafts, which afterwards 
developed into separate societies, trace their origin to Nnma. Among the later guilds 
may be mentioned those of the silversmiths, bakers, sailors, ferrymen, pig-dealers, 
physicians, etc. 



EDUCATION. 399 



which had their festive gatherings, 1 their by-laws and rules of 
admission and expulsion, their laws for mutual protection, and 
special funds for the support of widows. The shops in which 
the mechanics worked or sold their wares were generally 
on the ground floor of the houses and opened towards the 
streets, the sign 2 indicating the nature of the articles to be 
sold. The Pompeian wall-paintings, the bas-reliefs on the 
monuments, and the various implements of different trades 
discovered at Pompeji and Herculaneum, give a vivid idea of 
the shops and the numerous trades carried on in them. At 
Pompeji numerous loaves of bread completely burnt but still 
recognizable have been found, 3 while on the monuments and 
painted walls are represented mills for grinding corn, flour- 
strainers, millers' knives, machines for kneading dough, scales 
for weighing, the sledge-hammer of the metal-founder, as well 
as hammers, saws, sickles, knives of various kinds, folding foot- 
rules, sculptors' tools, as well as those of the blacksmiths, 
cabinet-makers, cutters in wood, tanners, and shoemakers. A 
Herculaneian wall-painting represents two men, one of whom is 
beating the leather on a last, while the other is sewing a shoe ; 
rows of finished shoes stand in an open cupboard and on the 
counter for sale. Another picture represents a market scene, 
w^here clothes, bronze vessels, ironwares, and cakes are sold, 
while shoemakers are taking the measures of persons who are 
sitting on benches. 4 

15. Education. — In the earliest times the father probably 
taught his sons reading and writing, arithmetic and a knowl- 
edge of the laws and history of his own country. Elementary 
schools for boys and girls were established at a very early time 
in Rome, as we learn from the story of Virginia, 5 who was, in the 

1 A Pompeian wall-painting depicts a millers' feast celebrated June 9. The day was 
celebrated by a dinner, consisting of bread, salt, vegetables, and fish served in earthen- 
ware. 

- The shop of a milkman at Pompeji has as a sign the goat ; that of a wine-merchant, 
two men carrying an amphora on a stick over their shoulders ; that of a baker, a mill 
put in motion by a donkey. 

3 In an oven belonging to Casa di Marte e Venere. The act of baking is illustrated on 
the monument found outside the Porta Maggiore, at the corner of the Via Labicana and 
Via Pnenestina ; the inscription is : Est hoc monumentum Marcei Vergilei Eurysacis pistoris 
redemptoris apparet, " the monument of M. Vergilei Eurysacis. baker and bread dealer." 

4 Gulil and Koner, p. 508 ff. 5 See p. 69; Liv. iii., 44. 



400 COURSE OF IKSTRUCTIOtf. 

year b. c.450, on her way to one of these schools in the forum 
when arrested by the client of Appius Claudius. For many 
centuries the instruction was confined to reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. A great change, however in this respect took 
place after the Komans came in contact with the Greek cities 
in Italy, and particularly after the conquest of Greece. Greeks 
came to Eome and settled, and the Greek language and litera- 
ture were studied with great eagerness, and it became the 
fashion for nobles to employ one of these Greek slaves in their 
families that their children might learn Greek at an early age. 
The duty of these slaves 1 was to watch over the children in 
their hours of play as they went to and from school, and to 
teach them good manners and as much of the Greek language 
as they could pick up by talking. At a later time it became 
so much the fashion to learn Greek at an early age, that -Quin- 
tilian complains that children were taught Greek before 
Latin. 

16. The Course of Instruction. — After completing the 
elementary course, the boys attended the schools of the gram- 
marians and rhetoricians, where the masterpieces of Eoman 
and Greek literature were read. The earliest Latin school- 
book of which we have any knowledge, was a translation of 
Homer in the Saturnian metre by Livius Andronicus, a Greek 
and a freedman of Marcus Livius. At a later time, the poems 
of Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, Vergil, and Horace, as well as the 
speeches of Cicero, were read and studied in the schools. In the 
time of Cicero a complete course of instruction consisted (1) of 
reading, 2 writing and arithmetic; 3 (2) a critical study of the 
masterpieces of the Greek and Latin languages, 4 and (3) the 
study of composition and oratory, 5 to which was sometimes added 
a course in philosophy and oratory under the celebrated teachers 
in Athens or Ehodes. 6 



1 The pcedagogi accompanied the boys, and the nutrices the girls. 

2 In learning to read, the method of syllables was adopted. 

3 This elementary course was taught by the ludi mac/istri or literatores. 

4 Taught by the grammatici. 5 Under rhetores. 

6 For a fuller information on the education and school, see Hist, of Lit., p. 



METHODS OF TEACHING. 401 

17. Method of Teaching. — Primary instruction was, to a 
great extent, pursued as an amusement. Children learned the 
alphabet by playing with pieces of ivory on which the differ- 
ent letters were marked. In the school, reading was taught in 
a class, the boys repeating in a kind of chant after the teacher, 
first the letters, then the syllables, and then the whole word. 
For writing, copies were set on waxen tablets, which the pupil 
imitated, the master often guiding his hand. A knowledge of 
arithmetic was communicated by means of a calculating board 1 
and counters. 2 On the board perpendicular lines were drawn, 
and the value of the counter varied according to the division in 
which it was placed. Practice was given in orthography, and 
the rules of grammar by the master repeating aloud a passage 3 
from some popular author, which was written down and com- 
mitted to memory. 

18. Holidays and Punishments. — Holidays were given 
to the schools regularly in December 4 and March, 5 which was 
the end of the school year when the boys paid their annual 
fees. There was also in the elementary schools probably 
a vacation during the summer months, in order that the 
wealthier citizens might take their children with them to 
their country-houses and villas. In the elementary school, the 
rod or ferule was used even for very trifling offences, for miss- 
ing even a single letter in reading, as Plautus informs us. In- 
struction in the schools must have begun very early in the day, 
for Martial 6 complains that even before the crowing of the 
cock the air resounded with the noise of flogging and the cries 
of the children. 

19. Books — Writing. — In early times books were very 
rare and dear ; but towards the end of the republic so many 
trained slaves 7 were kept by booksellers and speculators 8 con- 
stantly copying them, that they became as cheap perhaps as 



1 Abacus. a Calculi ; Hence our word calculation. 3 Dictata. 

4 At the Saturnalia (see p. 33, n. 3) ; at first only one day, later two, and finally seven. 

5 The Quinquatiia, in honor of Minerva, for five days (19th to 25th). 
6 IX., 30 ; also Juv. vii., 222. 7 Librarii. 

3 Atticns kept a large number ; he even made a trade of copying books, and kept 
copies of Cicero's works for sale. 



402 



BOOKS ; WRITING. 



with us. 1 The material on which books were written was gen- 
erally the bark 2 of the Egyptian papyrus; parchment 3 was 
sometimes used though not so geuerally, because it was much 
higher in price. The papyrus was rolled together in narrow 




tr tt" ; 



Implements of Writing. 4 

strips 5 to form the book, while parchment was folded into 
sheets and sewn in different sizes like our books. The ink was 
a kind of black pigment, prepared from lamp-black and gum. 
Instead of pens, the Eomans used a reed 6 cut like our quills. 7 

1 Martial (L, 118) speaks of a book containing 119 epigrams as costing 5 denarii, and 
even less. In early times authors like Plautus, Terence and others, sold their comedies 
to the sediles ; at a later time, booksellers paid the author for the right of publishing. 
Pliny (Ep. iii., 5) was offered 400,000 sesterces for his Commentarii Elect. 

2 Liber ; in the time of the empire the preparation of this bark by means of bleach- 
ing, etc., was brought to great perfection. 

3 Invented by Eumenes, of Pergamus ; sometimes leather, linen, and even silk was used. 
* The circular wooden or metal case (capsa or scrinium), at the left, with a cover, 

contains six volumes rolled up (hence the word volume) and labelled that they may be 
easily distinguished. In front of the case is a stylus and a pentagonal inkstand, very 
similar to those now in use. A little to the right is a pen made of reed, hence called 
calamus. Next to the case of books is the tabetla joined together as with hinges, and 
covered with wax. Above this is another, pinned a** it were to the wall with a stylus ; 
to the right of the last lies a book of tablets open. In the centre are single volumes in 
cases ; one of the cases on the left is open, and the other shut. On the right are four 
volumes, two of which have their titles, one attached to the papyrus itself, and the 
other to the umbilicus or cylinder of wood in its centre. The books were carried in the 
scrinium. When a Roman, either in the city or on a journey, wished to use books, a 
slave accompanied him to carry the scrinium. The children of the rich were accompa- 
nied to school by a slave (capsarius) who carried their books and writing-tablets. Books 
and documents when not in use were deposited in the scrinium, which was sealed if the 
documents were important. A library of 30.0°0 and even 60,000 volumes was not uncom- 
mon. In the time of Augustus there were 31 libraries in Rome. Others were added by 
later emperors. The Ulpian library was the most important of all. 

5 Those rolls found at Herculaneum are only six fingers widfl. 

6 Calamus, 7 With the scalprum librarium. 



LETTER WRITING. 



403 



The writing was usually only on one side. The children used in 
the schools for their exercises material which had already writ- 
ing on one side. 1 When the book was filled with writing, 
a stick or reed 2 was fastened to the last leaf, and around this 
the book was coiled, and then the title 3 written on a narrow 
strip of papyrus in deep red ink was attached. 4 

20. Letter Writing. — In the days when no newspapers ex- 
isted at Borne, letters were almost the sole means of conveying 
information. Governors before departing to their provinces, 
arranged to have the news sent regularly to them by their cor- 




respondents. Cicero when proconsul in Ciliciu, maintained an 
active correspondence with Caelius and others in the capital, 
and often chided his correspondents for their delinquency. 
People of wealth generally dictated their letters to slaves or 
freedmen, but when their contents were of great importance, 
then they were written by those who sent them. Letters 
were generally written with a stylus 5 on thin slips of wood or 
ivory, 6 covered with wax 7 and folded together with the writing 
inward. The slips were held together by a thread 8 passing 
round them, and where the string was fastened, the seal with 
wax stamped with a ring, 9 was placed. Letters were sometimes 
written on parchment 10 with ink. The outside address of the 



1 If a book was of no value, the writing could be rubbed out, then called palimp- 
pestus, (from -rrakiv again, and i'/r)v to scratch or write 1 ), and the same surface used again. 
Hence Martial (iv., 10) speaks of a sponge b^ing attached to a book. 

2 Umbilicus. 3 Titulus. 

* Sometimes the portrait of the author was painted on the first page. 

= <?, 6 TabdlcB ; a, d, e, 7 Cera, 8 Linum. 9 Annulus, 10 b. 



404 DEESS FOR MEN". 



letter was very simple, as in one 1 of Cicero's letters to Atticus : 
Tu fasciculum qui est M' Curio inscriptus, velim cures ad eum 
perferendum; "1 wish you would forward the package ad- 
dressed to M' Curius." The letters deviated the most from 
ours in the manner of beginning and closing. The beginning 
consisted of the names of the writer and receiver, with a 
friendly greeting as : Cicero, S. D? Trebatio ; " Cicero sends 
greeting to Trebatius." In formal letters the full name and 
title were given, as: Q. Metellus, Q. F. (Quinti films)* or 
Marcus Cicero, procos.; s. D. G. Curioni Trib. PI. 4 Some- 
times the greeting was followed by: Si vales, bene est ; " If you 
are well, it is well." The letters ended with a simple vale, 
" farewell," and even this was often omitted. Letters were sent 
by special messengers, unless an opportunity by chance occurred. 
Officials might employ public messengers, 5 and Cicero often 
speaks of availing himself of the messenger of the public tax- 
gatherers 6 to send letters to remote places. 7 Under the empire 
after the public and military roads were constructed connecting 
the provinces with Italy, regular lines of post wagons were estab- 
lished and the arrangements for sending messengers and 8 let- 
ters were systematized. 

21. Dress for Men. — The dress of the men among the 
Eomans was, during the greater part of their history, very 
simple, consisting of a loose upper garment called the toga, 
and of an under garment which fitted more closely, called the 
tunica. The toga was in all ages the characteristic garment of 
a Eoman, and none but citizens were allowed to wear it, hence 
the Eomans were called togati, and Vergil speaks of them as 
"lords of the earth, the people that wear the toga." It was 
also the garb of peace in contradistinction to the sagum of the 
soldiers. 9 Although it was customary to throw it one side 

1 VII., 5, 2. 

3 Salutem dicit ; sometimes salutem plurimam dicit, often simply salutem ; even 
this was sometimes omitted, as : Cicero Trebatio ; "Cicero to Trebatius." 

3 Q. Metellus, the son of Quintus. 

4 M. Cicero, proconsul, sends greeting to G. Curio, tribune of the people. 

5 Statores or Cursores. 6 Publicani. 

7 Carrier pigeons were also used (Plin. Ep. x., 50); for further information in regard 
to the post-office, see Hist. Lit., p. . 8 See p. 425 ; also Hist, of Lit., p. 

9 A red sagum was called paludamentum, 



COVEKIKG FOE THE FEET. 



405 



while engaged in manual labor, yet, when a Roman appeared in 
public, he reassumed it. It was made of pure white wool, 1 
and was nearly semicircular in form. In adjusting it, one 
end was thrown over the left shoulder to 
the front, so that the round side fell outward; 
it was then drawn over the right shoulder be- 
hind the body so that the arm rested as in a 
sling, while the remaining portion was drawn 
in front and thrown over the left shoulder. 2 
During the civil wars, the pallium or Greek 
cloak came into fashion, but 
Augustus forbade its use. 
The pcenula or mantle was 
worn by all classes. 




a, b. Soleaz of ordinary form. c. Half- Figure of a Man sup- 
shoes, d. Common shoe. e. Man's shoe posed to be dressed 
{calceus senatorius). in the Pamela. 



Toga. 



22. Covering for the Feet. — The covering for the feet 
were very numerous, but they may be classed under two sorts, 
the calceus and the solece. The solece or sandals were strapped 
to the bare feet, and were worn in the house, while the calceus, 
nearly resembling our shoe, was worn in the street. The poorer 
classes and the slaves wore wooden shoes. It was customary for 
a Roman to wear one signet-ring on the fourth finger of the left 



1 All garments for both sexes were at first made of wool, but towards the close of the 
republic, silk and various other fabrics were introduced. 

9 This was the earliest and simplest mode of adjusting the toga. 



DRESS FOR WOMEI^. 



hand. At first the rings were of iron except those of the higher 
classes. When luxury and wealth increased it was no uncommon 
thing for a fop, desirous of displaying his wealth, to have his 

hands literally covered with rings, 
and Juvenal tells us that the effem- 
inate Orispinu^had lighter rings 
for summer than for winter. The 
toga was so cumbrous that its use 
became in time restricted to state 
occasions, 1 while wealthier peopk 
wore the lacerna, and the pooi 
classes, simply the tunic. The 
Koman boys wore a toga with 
a purple hem, 2 until about the 
completion of the fifteenth 
year, when they assumed the 
toga virilis. 

23. Dress 
for Wo- 
men. — The 
dress of the 
Eoman la- 
dies consist- 
ed of the in- 
ner tunic, the 
stola and the 
palla. The 
stola, the 
characteristic dress of a Koman matron, con- 
sisted of a loose tunic gathered in and con- 
fined at the waist by a girdle and ending in a 
deep border or flounce, 4 which extended to the feet. The palla 
was a shawl large enough to envelop the whole figure, and was 
worn when a lady went abroad. The Eoman ladies bestowed 

1 Vestisforensis. 2 Toga prcetexta. 

3 The cut is taken from a statue of the Empress Livia found at Pompeji ; the inner 
tunic, the stola md the yaM &VQ visible, 4 XnstitQn 




Handmaiden wearing a sleeved stola and pella, 
dressing a bride who wears a tunica with 
open sleeves, a stola with the instita and a 
light palla. 




Empress Livia. 3 



BATHS. 407 

great care upon plaiting and arranging their hair. The aid of 
hair-dressers and curling-irons were called in, and various kinds 
of combs, pomades, and dyes were used, and when under the 
empire the great ambition was to have yellow hair, wigs of this 
color were worn. The women often drew over their head a net, 
sometimes made of gold thread, veils, caps or turbans. The 
ornaments worn by the ladies were often very rich and beauti- 
ful. The necklaces, 1 neckchains, bracelets, and earrings were 
made of pearls decorated with gold and precious stones. Among 
the toilet articles were fine polished mirrors, 2 perfumery bottles, 
instruments for the nails, combs, hair-pins, and a countless 
variety of cosmetics, among which rouge and white paint were 
not forgotten. 

24. Baths. — The Eoman in early times used the bath 
only for health and cleanliness, and the bath-houses were very 
simple, consisting only of two rooms, one for the cold plunge- 
bath and one for the warm bath. As wealth and luxury in- 
creased, warm, hot and vapor baths were introduced, and 
magnificent buildings 3 were erected, decorated with great 
splendor and supplied with all the conveniences that a voluptu- 
ary could desire. These became the popular resorts for amuse- 
ment and pastime and the exchange of the gossip of the day. 
The bather on entering paid his admission fee, 4 and then passed 
to the undressing room 5 where slaves were in waiting to take 
charge of the clothes, and then to the warm chamber, 6 or 
cold one, 7 as he wished. After this he was rubbed down and 
anointed with oil. The number of baths in Eome must have 
been very numerous, for Agrippa, the friend of Augustus, 
added 170. Under the emperors magnificent piles of buildings 
called thermce, including baths, gymnasia, and libraries, were 
reared, all of which were opened free to the public. 8 The fol- 
lowing cut is a ground plan of the thermce of Caracalla, which 



1 A necklace was found at Pompeji consisting of one band of fine interlaced gold, 
on which were suspended 71 pendants ; at the end of the chain there is a clasp. 
a Made of metal. 

3 Balnea. 4 A quadrans, the fourth part of an as = about J cent, 
5 Apodyteria. 6 Tepidarium. 7 Frigidartw*- 
8 Hitherto those who desired to win the favor of the people gave them a dav'fl 
bathing free. - '"* * " ~ * 



408 



THE GAMES OF THE CIKCUS. 



were more splendid than any of the others, and the remains of 
which are the best preserved : x 

nn nn.DflnnnnirntJniin.iiiJBtfniiiiiiBUti imiinniniaiiiiaDiaimiaanannnDnD 



iMTmimnninnTiinT nniannimmmmaji 




r ■ ; hi v. • — • ' |_H : ' I 

+m^a£ * 4 Fri 2; id a riu in h* 1 ) — - | | 




h 



Baths of Caracalla. 

(THERMOS- Antoninianae) 




l " 111 " 11 " 1 " 1 ' 



'arium, room for a cold bath. Tepidarium, warm room. Caldarium, heated 
chamber for hot-air bath. JUx^drce, semicircular recesses for philosophers to hold 
their conversations, etc. Stadium, a room for exercises and seats for spectators. 
Peristylium, a court surrounded.by columns. 2 

A slave usually accompanied his master or mistress to the 
bath with towels, oil and the strigils for rubbing the body. 
The usual time for bathing was the eighth hour, 3 and then the 
bathers waited on the various lounges watching the sports 
of the palestra until it was time for dinner. 

25. The Games of the Circus. — The Eomans had almost 
from the beginning of their history occasions of public rejoic- 

1 Numerous works of art have been found in these baths, as the Fernese bull, 
a Hercules, mosaics, etc. 

2 The use for which the other chambers were desis?ned has not been satisfactorily 
determined ; they were probably for lectures, public readings, etc. 

3 That is, the hour before dinner time : dinner was at 1\ p. m. in winter and 2} in 
Bummer, 



GLADIATOEIAL GAMES. 



409 



ings. Besides the triumphal processions/ there were the great 
games 2 celebrated in the Circus Maximus? in honor of the 
three great gods of the capitol. 4 These games consisted 
at first of chariot races, boxing and gymnastic contests. The 
Romans regarded these festivals and games as religious cere- 
monies, designed to pacify the anger of the gods, and when 
times of great danger or distress came, their number was in- 
creased. In b. c. 364, when a great pestilence desolated Eome, 




Racing Chariots. 

theatrical performances were celebrated, and in B. c. 264, the 
hideous gladiatorial combats were introduced. 

26. The Gladiatorial Games. — The gladiatorial games 
originated in the custom of sacrificing slaves at the tombs of 
their masters, in order to appease the spirits of the dead, which it 
was believed took delight in human blood. The slaves were soon 
allowed to fight with each other for their lives, and finally, the 
taste for these barbarous and inhuman spectacles increased to 
such an extent that slaves were trained and let out for this 
purpose. Although these contests were at first confined to 



1 See pp. 154, 181, n. 2. 

2 Ludi Maximl ; they were celebrated at first for only one day, but after each of the 
great revolutions (b. c. 509, 494, 367) a day was added, and at a later time they were 
extended to eight days. 

3 See colored map, No. 2, * See p. 18. 



410 GLADIATOKIAL GAMES. 

funerals, the gladiators fighting in the forum, still the taste 
for these spectacles soon increased to such an extent that 
no entertainment was complete without them. Games, festi- 
vals and scenic representations all increased to such an extent 
that in the time of the emperors the theatre with its tragedies 




Gladiatorial Combat. 1 

and comedies, the circus with its chariot racing and contests of 
wild animals, and the amphitheatre with gladiatorial combats, 
became the fashionable resorts of all classes. The gladiatorial 
games soon eclipsed all other forms of public amusement. 
The taste for them grew to such an extent under the empire 

1 Different classes of gladiators are represented in the above cut. The andabatce 
at the left are protected by a helmet without apertures for the eyes ; they fought, 
therefore, blindfolded and thus excited the mirth of the spectators. The retarius 
(in the centre) carried a three-pointed lance (fvsmia or tridens) and a net (rete) which 
he endeavors to throw over his opponent, who is usually a secvtor or mirmillo (so called 
because he had the image of a fish upon his shield). The Thraces (at the right) were 
armed with a round shield, and the Samnites (after the defeat of the Samnites in b. c. 310, 
their armor was adopted for gladiators as a sign of contempt) with an oblong shield. In 
the foreground are the pugUfarii, 



AMPHITHEATKE. 411 



that it corrupted and killed all the higher - instincts of 
humanity. On every occasion of public rejoicing, the gladia- 
torial games * must be celebrated ; schools for drilling gladia- 
tors multiplied; wandering bands of gladiators traversed Italy 
to supply the provincial amphitheatres. The passion for these 
shows pervaded every grade of society. In the eyes of the 
multitude the successful gladiator became a hero. In fact 
such a halo of glory was spread around the profession that 
even freemen voluntarily adopted it. Gladiatorial games were 
announced several days beforehand by bills. At the opening 
of the contest there was usually a sham-battle in which the 
gladiators fought with wooden swords, then the trumpet 
sounded and the real battle commenced. When one of the 
gladiators was wounded the words "hoc hdbet" were shouted ; 
if the wounded gladiator, holding up his forefinger, appealed 
to the people for pity, their outstretched thumbs was a sign 
that the prayer had been heard ; too often, however, the thumbs 
of the spectators were pressed down to the hand 2 as a signal 
that the gladiator should receive the sword. An attendant 
then rushed in, dragged the body from the arena with a hook, 
and sprinkled it with fresh sand. 3 

27. The Amphitheatre. — The circus was used for a long 
time for these combats, but its shape was ill-adapted for any- 
thing but races ; so that in the time of Julius Caesar two large 
wooden theatres 4 were constructed close together in such a way 
that one of them could be turned on pivots, the audience 
remaining in their seats, and brought to face the other, so 

1 When the public interest began to flag, new forms of cruelty were devised. 
Criminals dressed in the skins of wild beasts were thrown to maddened bulls. Under 
Nero 400 tigers fought at one time with bulls and elephants ; at the dedication of the 
Colosseum 5000 animals perished in one day. 

2 See reliefs in Overbeck, p. 158. 

3 Gladiatorial exhibitions (sine remessione, i. e., where the life of the vanquished was 
not spared) were forbidden by Augustus ; Constantine forbade gladiatorial shows, but 
they were not wholly suppressed until the" time of Honorius. 

4 Hence the term amphitheatrum, a double theatre, or a theatre all round. The 
space in the centre formed by the two orchestras of the two theatres was called the 
arena, and was strewed with sand. Here the various exhibitions were given. The 
arena was sunk several feet below the lowest row of seats, and a sort of balustrade 
constructed on the podium (a massive wall dividing the arena from the first mcEmanivm, 
covered with net-work) that the spectators might be protected from the wild beasts. 
Under the arena were various chambers and dens for wild beasts. The emperor, 
senators and vestal virgins occupied the foremost tier of seats (podium) ; the knights, 
the first tier (mcenianium) behind these. 



412 



AMPHITHEATRE. 



that the seats formed an oval tier round an arena in the 
centre. Other similar structures were contrived, and in the 
time of Augustus a stone amphitheatre was erected in the 
Campus Martius. All these structures, however, faded into 
insignificance when compared with the Flavian amjohitheatre, 
one of the most stupenduous fabrics ever reared by the hand 
of man. A description of this will be found on p. — . The 
annexed view of the Flavian amphitheatre will explain the 
general appearance of the interior of such buildings : 




Flavian Amphitheatre in its Present Condition (1879)— Interior. 

The amphitheatres were open to the sky, but the spectators 
were protected from the sun by an awning, and in case of 
rain they returned to the surrounding porticoes. Under the 
empire no cost was spared to make the exhibitions of the 
amphitheatre pleasing to the people. Gladiators fought 
equipped with silver, sometimes with gold, the sand of the 
arena was strewed with vermilion, the seats intwined with 
golden cords, while streams of water diffused a grateful cool- 
ness, and statues placed in various parts of the building were 
so constructed that from them showers of perfumes were 
diffused over the spectators. Often at the conclusion of the 



THE THEATRE. 413 



games, in order to increase the good humor of the multitude, 
little billets of wood were thrown down from the upper story for 
those below to scramble for ; each of these contained a ticket 
which entitled the holder to a present — a sum of money, a 
slave, a horse, a robe, or some object of more or less value — 
on applying to the person appointed for that purpose. 

28. The Theatre. — The theatre was never much cared for 
by the Komans. Dramatic entertainments consisting of ex- 
tempore witticisms, recited by strolling minstrels or ballad- 
singers who traveled from town to town, were known at a very 
early time in Latium. These songs were at first recited at the 
rustic feasts, but in b. c. 364, a stage was erected in the circus, 
and fantastic dances and gestures were performed to the music 
of the flute. By degrees a sort of unpremeditated farce was 
added to the dance, but the art continued in a rude state until 
b. c. 240, when Livius Andronicus introduced the first regular 
plays, comedies and tragedies, translated from the Greek. His 
example was followed by Nasvius, Ennius, Plautus and many 
others, all of whose pieces were close imitations or adaptations 
from Greek originals. 1 The Koman theatre was at first nothing 
but a rude platform, and no attempt was made to provide the 
spectators with seats. In b. c. 155, the first regular theatre 
was commenced, but the senate stopped its construction and 
issued a decree forbidding such exhibition as demoralizing. 
Afterwards wooden theatres 2 were erected, but they were taken 
down as soon as the holiday was over. In b. c. 55, Pompejus 
after his return from the East, erected the first permanent 
theatre. 3 It was built of stone, modeled after one at Mitylene, 
and would seat 40,000 spectators ; a second was erected soon 
after, and the third, built by Marcellus, 4 was the most splendid 

1 These plays had regular plots ; besides these there were farces or interludes 
(mimi), the Atallan farce so called from Atalla, a town in Campania, and finally the 
pantomime. 

2 Of the two parts of a theatre, the cavea and scena, the former was semicircular and 
was reserved for spectators ; the latter answered to the modern scene. In the cavea, stone 
or marble seats rose in succession, one above the other, each row being farther removed 
from the stage. For easy access and egress, the rows of seats were divided at intervals 
by broad passages (prazcinctiones) running round the whole semicircle, The orchestra— 
the " dancing place " occupied by the chorus in the Greek theatre— was directly in front 
of the stage. The stage was concealed by a curtain (aulwum or separium), before the 
play commenced, but this was not pulled up as in our theatres, but drawn down under 
the stage. 3 Th ^ stooc [ } n t h e Piazza Campo de' Tiori. 

4 Twelve arches are still standing ; they are occnmed by smiths and other artisans 
as workshops. 



414 



THE THEATKE. 



of all. The citizens sat promiscuously in the theatre until the 
orchestra was set apart for the senators, and by the Eoscian 
law the fourteen rows of benches directly behind those of the 
senators were assigned to the ^Equites. The theatre, like the 
amphitheatre, was open to the sky, but the sun and rain was 




Theatre or Pompejus. 
(Restored by Canina.) 

kept out by an awning, while the air was cooled and scented by 
fragrant spray. Actors 1 were never held in esteem at Eome ; 
they were mostly slaves hired from their masters by the magis- 
trate for the occasion, although in the time of Cicero we hear 
of the comic actor Eoscius and the tragic actor iEsopus 2 who 
were held in high esteem and obtained great wealth. 

29. Funerals. — The ceremonies of the Eomans in cases of 
death and at funerals, were intimately connected with their 
religious notion of a future life. The belief was at an early 

1 The actors (histriones) in tragedy wore a boot called cothurnus, while the comic 
actors wore a thin slipper called soccus, and hence cothurnus and soccus are sometimes 
figuratively employed for tragedy and comedy. Actors of mimes aopeared with bare 
feet (hence called planivedes). Actors generally wore masks ; see Hist, of Literature, 

8 The estate of ^Esopus amounted to 20,000,000 sesterces ($1,000,000). 



THE FUNEKALS. 415 



time very deeply rooted in their minds that the spirit of the 
unburied wandered restlessly about without gaining admit- 
tance to Hades. The burial of the dead then became the 
most sacred duty. The nearest relatives closed the eyes of the 
deceased and raised a loud shout of woe. Notice was at once 
sent to the temple of Venus Libitina, where a register was 
kept and a fee paid, and where undertakers 1 were in attendance. 
A slave was sent at once by one of these to wash and anoint 
the corpse, and dress it 2 and lay it in the atrium where the 
images of the ancestors of the deceased were exhibited. A 
cypress tree or a pine was then placed before the house as an em- 
blem of death and to give warning to priests that they might 
not enter. The funeral procession moved solemnly to the 
sound of music and the loud wailing of women. The bier was 
followed by all the family attired in black, and was preceded by 
a line of men who represented the ancestors of the deceased, 
clad in the insignia of their office. If the deceased had 
gained warlike renown, won great victories, conquered towns, 
then a tablet was carried inscribed with these deeds. In this 
way the procession moved *to the forum, where some one of the 
relatives delivered the funeral speech, 3 extolling the deeds of 
the departed and those of his ancestors. 4 The procession then 
resumed its course and proceeded to the place — which must be 
outside of the walls — where the body was to be interred. To- 
wards the close of the republic cremation was common. 
After the body was consumed, the embers were extinguished 
with wine, the charred bones collected, sprinkled with wine, 
then with milk, dried with a linen cloth, mixed with costly 
perfumes and deposited in one of the niches in the family tomb. 5 
On the ninth day after the funeral, a repast consisting of a 
few simple articles of food was placed beside the tomb, which 
was adorned with garlands and sprinkled with essences. Be- 
side the niches in the tomb were placed lamps, lachrymatories 
and the inscription. 7 

1 Libitwarii. 2 In the toga ; in the case of magistrates in the toga prcetexta. 

3 Laudatio. 

4 In case of the poor, these ceremonies were entirely omitted ; poor persons often 
belonged to burial clubs which, on the death of a member, advanced a sum to pay the 
funeral expenses. s Columbarium. 6 On the cippus. 

7 For further information on these subjects, see Quhl and K5ner and Becher's Gallus, 



1. Jliliarium Aureum 
{Umbilicus TJrbis Romae) 

2. T.Saturni 

3. Schola Xantha 

4. T.D.Vespasiani 

5. Scalae Gemoniae 
C. Graecostasis 

7. Arcus Tiberii 

8. Lacus Servilius 

9. Lacus Curtius 

10. Eijuus Domitiani 

11. Rostra Vetera 

12. Rostra lfova(JuUa) 

13. Janus Quadrifrons x " 

14. Chalcij: 

15. Atrium Minervae^$^ 
ll.Areus Sept.Sevei-i -'si ' 
18. T.J). An tonini-' ""' 
et Faustinae 
IQ. !'.£>. Jute 
20 Arcus Augusti 
2± Fornix \ 
•2',.Fabiu/ius) 
24. Atrium Regiun 
25. T.MU 
20. Gestae 
27. T. Castorum 
2%.Atrium Caji 
2'd.T.D.Aimusii 

Vesta e 
SLB 



THE ROMAN FORUM 

The FORA of the CAESARS 
and the CAPITOL 



32. T.D.Romuli 

(JIaxentiif.) 

34. T. Ftme/ -is et JJomae 

35. Clivus Vicioi 
Calabra? 

Centum Gradus 
Clivus Cajritolinus 

39. T.Jovis CustodU 

40. Aerar 

41. T. Concord 

42. T.Jani 

43. Tabularium 
AA.Fquus Caesaris 

45. T. Veneris Cenctricis 

46. r.l/iwe™. 

47. TwVrtrfis Ultons 

48. Sepulcrum Bibuli 

49. Atrium Lihertutis 
DO. Colunna Trajani 




The plan of the forum to which a brief enumeration of the building of most impor- 
tance is annexed can be found on page 386. Under the empire the forum was much too 
small, as it was used not only /for political and commercial purposes, but also for 
gladiatorial shows and funerals (see p. 415). Caesar planned many improvements, but 
they were carried into execution by his successors. The forum Julium was constructed, 
and before the time of Trajan five other new fora were built, connecting the old forum 
with the magnificent structures in the Campus Martins. Near the temple of Saturn was 
the triumphal arch of Tiberius (see frontispiece). The excavations have not yet been 
extended farther than the modern road running along the northern side of the Roman 
forum. The forum of Trajan has been excavated ; the magnificent column of Trajan is 
still standing. The foundations of several columns belonging to this five-hailed basilica 
in this forum, have been discovered. Remains of the forum, properly so-called, can be 
seen at 1$q. 6, Yia del Campo Carleo. 



THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT. 



chapter itvii. 
The Empire Established by Augustus. 

1. The Policy of Octavius.— The great Eoman revo- 
lution which began with the tribunate of Gracchus ended with 
the battle of Acfcium. It resulted in centralizing the adminis- 
trative as well as the military power into one man's hands. 
The people realized that the only hope of domestic tranquillity 
rested in a supreme ruler/ and the senate was ready to confer 
the necessary powers and dignities. Octavius, however, had 
learned circumspection from the fate of his illustrious prede- 
cessor. He therefore rejected the position of dictator raised 
above the laws, and the hateful name of king, and sought to 
veil his supremacy under the forms of the republic. The most 
vigorous and restless spirits among the aristocracy he enlisted 
in his service, and subdued their energies by the restraint of 
discipline, the allurements of honor, and the ideas of military 
devotion. He was well aware that the fidelity of his legions 
could defend his authority against rebellion, but their vigilance 
could never secure his person from the dagger of the repub- 
lican. Caesar had provoked his fate ; a consular tribune might 
have reigned in peace, but the title of king had aroused the 
Romans against his life. Octavius therefore determined to 
deceive the people by the image of liberty ; he knew that they 
would submit to slavery provided they were assured that they 
still enjoyed their ancient freedom. In this pleasing illusion 
the feeble senate and the enervated people cheerfully ac- 
quiesced. 2 

1 Tacitus Hist. i, 1. Omnem potentiam ad unum conferri pads interfuit. 

2 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Boman Empire. 



418 THE EMPIEE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. [b. C. 3i- 

2. Changes in the Constitution.— The system of admin- 
istration devised by Octavius, although actually combining 
within his own hands the prerogatives of the several repub- 
lican offices and the functions of the legislative and the judicial 
departments of the state, preserved the show of republican 
government. The framework of the old constitution still ex- 
isted. The senate and the people still exercised their preroga- 
tives, and Octavius had professed to act hitherto in obedience 
to these. According to law, the imperator must disband his 
army after the triumph was over. This necessity he avoided, 
and henceforth the legions swore fidelity to him alone. The 
aim of Marius and Caesar had been to subvert the rule of the 
senate. Octavius was sensible that such an assembly, consist- 
ing ostensibly of six hundred members, now that it was hum- 
Wed and disarmed, would be a useful and tractable instrument 
to secure his dominion. 1 On its dignity, therefore, he sought 
to found his empire. With the view of raising its authority in 
general estimation, he revised 2 the list of senators, ejected 
unworthy members, 3 limited the number to six hundred, 4 raised 
the property qualification 5 for admission, admitted worthy 
members from the provinces, and henceforth conducted the 
government 6 through its name and agency. 7 The most im- 
portant concerns were deferred to the decision of the senate. 
It still retained jurisdiction in criminal matters, and many 
important cases were pleaded before it. In this way it afforded 
the last refuge to the spirit of ancient eloquence. In its legis- 
lative capacity it was nominally the source of power, as it still 



1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 

2 This was accomplished in virtue of his potestas consularis, which originally included 
the power of the censors, with Agrippa as his colleague. 

3 190 in all. * It had been increased to 1000 by Antonius. 

5 Gradually raised from 400,000 to 1,200,000 sesterces. This was the minimum cen- 
sus. Lentulus the augur, the richest man in Rome, was worth 400 million sesterces 
($20,000,000). A man who possessed half that sum was considered very wealthy. 
"Richer than Crispus," says Martial (iv, 54, 7), to express great wealth. Crispus was 
worth 300 million sesterces ($15,000,000). The income of a man worth 300 million ses- 
terces was about $1,000,000. 

6 It is sometimes asserted, on the authority of Did. (liii., 28). that Augustus was 
released from all the laws of the senate (princeps legibus solutus). This is hardly possi- 
ble ; it is probable that he was released from some particular law. Critics have sup- 
posed it to be the lex Cincia de donis et muneribus. 

7 He ennobled many plebeian houses and supplied them with sufficient means for 
supporting their rank by creating a vast number of civil offices. 



A. D. 14.] THE EMPIRE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. 419 

had the right of ratifying all the laws. Kegular meetings were 
held on three stated days of every month, the Calends, the 
Nones, and the Ides. The emperor sat and voted with the 
other senators. 

3. The Artful Policy of the Emperor.— In b. c. 29 
and 28 Octavius was consul, with Agrippa as his colleague. 
He had a census 1 of the people taken. It was on this occasion 
that Agrippa named him the chief of the senate, 2 a title that 
had been in abeyance since the death of Catulus in b. c. 60. 
In the year b. c. 28, Octavius issued an edict resigning the 
powers conferred upon him by the triumvirate, and declared 
that he was satisfied with the consular and tribunitian powers, 
but would only retain the latter, as this alone was sufficient to 
protect the citizens. 3 On the 13th of Jan., b. c. 27, however, 
he made an oration to the senate, exhorting it to preserve the 
dominion he had acquired and the peace he had restored, and 
professed that he wished to be relieved of the burdens of power. 4 

4. Senatorial and Imperial Provinces.— The senators, 
either mistrusting his sincerity or fearing the return of anarchy, 
begged him with one voice to retain the military power, which, 
after long apparent resistance, he consented to do, but only 
under the pretext of using it for the security of those provinces 
which still required military control. The quieter and well 
organized ones were to be left under the jurisdiction of the 

1 There were 4,063,000 citizens between 17 and 60 years of age, representing a total of 
both sexes of about 16 millions ; in b. c. 70 there were 900,000 ; this difference is par- 
tially explained by the fact that in the last census citizens living out of Italy were 
included. 

2 Princeps senatus. 

3 The jus trib., i. e., the original powers of the tribunate, inviolability and interces- 
sion, and not the pote^tas trib., the powers that the tribunate had acquired. The tri- 
umvirate expired at the end of b. c. 33. The measures carried since that time he 
declared illegal. He was still in possession of the imperium conferred in b. c. 32 (it 
was prolonged in b. c. 29). It was in no way connected with the triumvirate. No one, 
however, reminded him of it. 

4 That is, he wished to give the imperium and the government of the provinces back 
into the hands of the senate. This cannot mean that the emperor meant to resign. 
Mommsen (Mon. Anc, p. 98) thinks that he did actually give the imperimn (militce ; it 
must be remembered that the word kept its full meaning only in the camp), and with it 
the government of the provinces back to the senate ; he had already commenced this 
policy in b. c. 28, when he made Asia a senatorial province, and now^simply completed 
what he had begun. This view rests almost wholly on one inscription on a coin found 
in Asia, viz. : imp. Caesar divi. f. cons. VI. libertatis p. E. vinclex, also Ovid. Fast. I., 
589. This inscription, however, agrees with the view in text equally well (which is also 
reconcilable with the whole policy of Ociavius), that he gave the provinces to the 
senate and received them back again. 



420 THE EMPIRE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. [B. C. 31- 

senate. This arrangement secured to Mm the command of 
the armies and the conduct of the foreign wars. Although 
only assumed for ten years, it became permanent. Hence 
arose the distinction between the senatorial and the imperial 
provinces. 1 Into the one the senate sent proconsuls and pro- 
praetors as governors, while the governors of the latter were 
the lieutenants 2 of the emperor, who reserved the proconsular 
power to himself. In all, the chief taxes were substantially 
the same as under the republic. The income of the one found 
its way into the treasury 3 of the senate, that of the other into 
the imperial chest. 4 The governors in all the provinces as well 
as all other public officers received a regular salary. 5 

5. Titles and Powers Conferred upon Octavius. — 
By this deference to the old republican institutions, Octavius 
managed to have the powers which he already possessed legal- 
ized and at the same time satisfied all parties. In the senato- 
rial provinces no regular army was kept, so that Octavius still 
retained control over all the troops. The senate and the people, 
however, were so impressed by his magnanimity that they con- 
ferred additional titles upon him, the most important of which 
was Augustus, 6 an epithet against which no objection could be 

1 The imperial provinces {provincial Ccesaris) were, although from time to time 
changes were made : (1) Hispania terraconensis and (2) Lusitania, (3) Gallia Narbo- 
nensis, (4) Lugdunensis (5) Aquitania, (6) Belgica, (7) Germania superior, (8) inferior, 
(9) Syria, (10) Cilicia, (11) Cyprus, (12) JEgypt. 

The senatorial provinces {promacix senatus) : (1) Africa, (2) Asia, (3) Achaja, 
(4) Blyricum, (5) Macedonia, (6) Sicilia (7) Greta with Cyrenaica, (8) Bithynia, (9) Sar- 
dinia, (10) Bcelica; see map, p. 439. 

2 Leqati Augusti, to be distinguished from the legati legionis who took the place of 
the military tribunes (p. 37^) ; they were the civil governors with the command of 
two or three legions and as many allied troops ; these commands were permanent. The 
governors were selected for their ability, and they conducted themselves with modera- 
tion and justice as well as ability. 

3 jErarium. In the provinces the chief direct impost was the capitation tax, which 
comprehended both a land and a poll-tax. Ten per cent, was assessed on the annual 
produce of grain and five percent, on that of wine, fruits, oil, etc. The land in the 
provinces was divided in portions {capita) estimated at 1000 solidi, about ^5.25 ; (hence 
French sol or sou.) Those who possessed no land paid on personal effects or a poll-tax. 
The mines, sait-works, quarries, forests, fisheries in the provinces, were either farmed 
by speculators, or leased at a fixed rate. To these sources of revenue must be added the 
customs' duties, the tolls of roads and bridges, and the various other imposts (as those 
on dress, furniture, articles of luxury, columns in houses, etc.). The revenues from the 
senatorial provinces were paid into the treasury at Rome ; those of the imperial pro- 
vinces were applied to the expenses of government in each province. 

* Fiscus ; this is to be distinguished from the private property of the emperor (res 
privata principis). 

5 A proconsul in Africa received 1,000,000 sesterces = $54,000 ; a procurator who 
acted as quaestor in the imperial provinces, received from 60,000 to 100,000 sesterces. 

6 Skr. ghush, declare : cf . augura, augurium, augustus : the rights of the gods were 



A. D. 14.J THE EMPIRE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. 421 

advanced, for no man had ever borne it before. This was 
another step in the artful system by which he established his 
imperial authority. His moderation was remarkable; it was 
inspired by fear. 1 

6. The Tribunate Conferred on Octavius. — The next 
step taken by Augustus, as we shall henceforth call him, was 
in b. c. 23, when he was suffering from a fever, from which it 
seemed likely he would never recover. He gave it to be under- 
stood that in case of his death he wished the supreme power 
to return to the senate as in the days of the republic. After 
his recovery he wished to read his will to the senate to prove 
that he had not attempted to interfere with its prerogatives by 
appointing a successor. This was a new reason for gratitude. 
When he therefore, during this year, resigned the consulship 
which he had held for the eleventh time, an opportunity was 
offered for conferring upon him the powers of the tribunate, 2 
thus making him the chief of the people as he was already of 
the senate. About the same time the proconsular power, and 
soon after, the consular power, with permission to have twelve 
lictors and to sit upon a curule chair between the two consuls, 
were conferred upon him for life. 3 This invested Augustus with 
the last vestige of power that the state had to bestow. From 
this year he well might date the period of his supreme authority, 

called " august," and the word was derived from a root which means to announce, reveal 
(see also Ovid Fast. L, 608 if.). The title was always reserved for the emperor ; the 
name of Caesar was often assumed by his relatives ; from the time of Hadrian it was 
given to the person who was considered the future heir of the empire. 

1 "After he had cajoled the soldiery by donations, 1 ' says Tacitus, "the people, by 
distribution of corn, and all by the charms of peace, he began gradually to exalt himself 
above them ; to draw to himself the functions of the senate and of the magistrate, and 
the framing of the laws ; in which he was thwarted by no man, for the boldest spirits 
had fallen in battle or by proscription. The surviving nobility was distinguished by 
wealth and public honors according to the measure of the promptness to bondage ; and 
as these innovations had been the cause of their aggrandizement, they preferred the 
present state of things with safety, to the revival of ancient liberty with personal peril. 
Neither were the provinces averse to this condition of affairs. They mistrusted the 
government of the senate and people on account of the contentions of the great and the 
avarice of the magistrates. The protection of the laws was enfeebled and borne down 
by violence, intrigue, and bribery. 

2 Potestas trib. This seems to be the view of Tacitus, though many, among others 
Mommsen (Mon. Anc, p. 28), have from Diod. (li. 19 and xlix. 15) arrived at a different 
conclusion ; that the Jus trib. should be conferred in b. c. 36 and then again in b. c. 30, 
and now the potestas trib. seems contradictory. Mommsen has supposed that it was not 
accepted in b. c. 36 and 30 ; but Tacitus (Ann. i., 26) expressly says that he possessed 
in b. c. 28 the jus trib. By the distinction between jus trib. and potestas trib. the 
difficulty is obviated. See Peter rom. Gesch., vol. iii., p. 32, note. 

3 That this prerogative was conferred upon Augustus is questioned by Mommsen 
CA. S., p. 13), because it is not mentioned in the Monumentum Ancyranum. 



422 THE EMPIRE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. [b. C. 31- 



for he well deserved the title of emperor. 1 Without being eon- 
sal or tribune he had control over legislation by these anoma- 
lous consular and tribunitian powers. The regular consuls were 
too much overshadowed by his superior eminence, and too well 
drilled in compliance to exercise their initiatory functions. 
In this way Augustus became the fountain-head of all legislation, 
but he had not the authority to issue ordinances with the full 
force of law. This power 2 was granted to him in b. c. 19, when 
the supervision 3 over the laws and customs was transferred to 
him. This substantially completed the fabric of his imperial 
functions. A few years later, on the death of Lepidus (b. c. 12), 
the last dignity of the state, the chief pontificate was added. 

7. Imperialism Disguised under Republican Forms. — 
To all outward appearances the republic was fully restored. 
The senate still met and transacted business with apparently 
the old freedom of debate. The magistrates and priests dis- 
charged their functions as in the days of the republic. The 
popular assemblies elected the magistrates and passed laws, and 
the whole republican machinery was in operation. Augustus 
demeaned himself as an ordinary citizen ; his dress was that of 
a plain senator, and he walked the streets as a private citizen. 
In the senate he appeared only as one among his equals. At 
his table he set an example of sobriety and temperance, and 
his daughter and granddaughters busied themselves like their 
neighbors with spinning and weaving. He avoided all pomp 
and show. His mansion on the Palatine was moderate in size. 
He voted in the public assemblies like an ordinary citizen, and 
appeared in the courts when summoned by his neighbors as a 
witness. The ancient free forms, however, only threw a trans- 
parent veil over an actual despotism. Augustus wished to 

1 Tacitus (Ann. iii., 56) recognizes this, for he says : Augustus devised this designa- 
tion of supreme power, that by avoiding the title of king or dictator, he might yet 
have an appellation by which he would overtop all the other authorities. 

2 This function has been denied to Augustus by Hceck (Horn. Gesch., vol. i., p. 398) 
and by Merivale (vol. iii., p. 385). The absence of it would really be in contradiction to 
his whole system in which he sought to invest every act with the form of legality. The 
view rests primarily on Diod. (liv., 10), is confirmed by the law de imperio Vespasiani 
(Orelli Inscrip. i., p. 567), indirectly by the new Greek "text of the Monumenturn Ancy- 
ranum (Mommsen, p. 14). This is also the opinion of Walter (Gesch. des rom. Rechts., 
vol. i., p. 418), of Rudorif (Rom. Rechtsgesch, vol. i, p. 142\ and of Mommsen (Mon. 
Anc, p. 101). 3 Cura legum et morum. 



A.D. 14.] THE EMPIRE ESTABLISHED BY AUGUSTUS. 42$ 

accustom and reconcile men's minds to the new regime, and 
remove every obstacle to his supreme authority, and so skill- 
fully did he do this, that both republican and monarchist were 
satisfied, for the one flattered himself that the republic still 
existed, while the other was convinced that it had passed away 
forever. The power of the Eoman aristocracy had been broken 
by the civil wars. Augustus sought to humiliate it still further. 
The honor of a triumph was limited to the imperial family. 
The dignity of the consulship was lowered, by limiting its 
duration first to four and then to two months. New patrician 
houses were created. The senate was purified from time to time 
by ejecting unworthy members. The people, 1 satisfied with 
bread 2 and public shows, viewed with secret pleasure the 
humiliation of the aristocracy, while the Italians, deeply im- 
bued with the philosophy of Epicurus, sought to enjoy their 
present blessings and tranquillity without being interrupted by 
the memory of their old, tumultuous freedom. To all, he held 
out the prospect of honorable employment in the service of 
the state. 

8. His Policy Compared with Caesar's. — His great 
predecessor had sought to break down the barrier between Italy 
and the provinces, and to mould the whole yast empire into one 
body politic under the sway of one supreme ruler. The same 
policy is visible in the measures devised by Augustus. Just as 
the aristocracy had become a privileged class in respect to the 
people, so the people had prided themselves on their superiority 
to the provincials. These distinctions Augustus wished to 
obliterate both by humbling the aristocracy and by elevating 
the provincials. Citizenship was more widely extended by 
founding colonies in the provinces, and municipal rights were 
bestowed upon many provincial cities, while on the other hand 
Italy was deprived of the two most important privileges that 
it had hitherto enjoyed — freedom from a standing army and 
from taxation. Now nine praetorian cohorts 3 were organized 

1 He provided for the poorer classes by settling them in colonies. 
3 The recipients of the largesses of corn were reduced from 320,000 to 200,000. 
8 This was the beginning of the so-called praetorian guard ; it took its name from the 
praetorian guard of the general (see p. 210, n. 5), and consisted of picked troops, each of 



424 i!TALY A2CD THE PROVINCES. [b. C. 31- 

under the command of praefects, 1 of which three were stationed 
in Eome while the others kept order in different Italian towns. 
Besides these there were the three city cohorts, 2 a sort of armed 
police, the seven cohorts, 3 comprising the regular police force, 
and the body-guard of German or Batavian soldiers for the 
imperial household. In regard to taxes within the city, a duty 
of one per cent, was imposed on articles sold at auction, five per 
cent, on inheritances, and two per cent, on the sale of slaves. 



CHAPTER I/VTII. 

Italy and the Peovinces. — Internal Improvements. 

1. Measures to Restore Order.— Throughout the whole 
empire Augustus was unwearied in his exertions to preserve 
order and tranquillity. In the city of Rome particularly Augus- 
tus felt that during his absence it was necessary to have some 
one whom he could trust to control the people and watch the 
senate. For this purpose he divided the city into fourteen 
regions, and each region into several smaller divisions called 
vici. A magistrate 4 with suitable police force was placed over 
each vicus, and all these officers were under the prefect of the 
city. To the position of prefect, Augustus appointed first his 
most trusted friend and confidant, Maecenas, 5 and placed the 
city cohorts under his command. Augustus, however, did not 
stop here. He tried to restore the old simple habits of living 
and the religious customs of the people. He erected new tem- 
ples to the gods, repaired old ones, had the Sibylline books 



1000 men ; the city cohorts were commanded by two prcefecti prcetoris • under Tiberius 
these cohorts were collected at Rome and were commanded by Sejanus alone. 

1 A praefect (prcefectus) acted as the deputy of an officer. The prcefectus urbi under 
the republic, governed the city while the consuls were absent (to celebrate the Latin 
Games on the Alban Mount). 

' 2 Cohortes urbance. 3 Cohort es mg'ilum. 

4 Prcefectus urbi ; this office is to be distinguished from the city prefecture which had 
existed under the republic. His jurisdiction extended in a circle within twenty miles 
of the city. 

5 Maecenas had held this office in b. c. 36 during the war in Sicily, and also in b. c. 31 
during the war with Antonius ; in b. c. 25 it became a permanent office. 



A. D. 14.] ITALY AND THE PROVINCES. 425 

revised, filled up the priestly offices/ issued laws to restrain 
luxury, limited the expense at the public games and proscribed 
that not more than sixty pairs of gladiators should appear at one 
time, and strengthened the laws against bribery and corruption. 
Celibacy was punished by incapacity to receive bequests, and 
the childless married man was deprived of half of his legacy. 2 
Above all, Augustus encouraged every one by his own example, 
while the literary men under his patronage attempted to lead 
men's minds back to the good old times, and to restore the 
antique virtues by which Rome had won her greatness. 

2. The Military Roads, — In the provinces this system 
of administration was felt. The sense of unity and common 
dependence was fostered. The provincials no longer feared the 
exactions of the proconsuls, for the governors were directly 
responsible to the emperor. The laws were administered with 
justice and impartiality, and intercourse and intercommunica- 
tion were encouraged. This was a great gain, for in almost 
every country throughout the Roman world, towards the end of 
the republic, misgovernment and anarchy had brought untold 
miseries upon the people. A new order of things was to begin, 
and the provincials welcomed any change that would bring 
peace and security. Geographical and statistical information 
was collected, public roads, 3 and particularly those great high- 
ways 4 which had hitherto been confined to Italy were extended 
to the whole empire. From the golden milestone 5 in the forum 
as a centre, these roads radiated in every direction over the 
vast empire. Throughout their course mile-stones were erected, 
and they were kept in repair by tolls. To promote easy and 
quick communication, first messengers and then post-wagons, 
changing from station to station, carried the news and ordi- 
nances to every corner of the empire. 6 Houses were erected 

1 That of thejlamen Dialis had been vacant since the massacre of Merula by Marius 
and Cinna. 

2 The so-called lex Papia Poppcea. 3 Vice publicce. 

4 Vice militares ; they were called highways because they were raised above the level 
of the plain and banks of the rivers. 

5 Aureum miliarium erected in b. c. 20. Some few remains of this are supposed to 
have been found at one end of the arched wall which is supposed to have been the 
rostra, near the arch of S. Severus ; at the other end are remains of the Umbilicus urbis 
Romce, or ideal centre of the city and empire. 

6 Suet. Aug, 49 ; the people 'were compelled to furnish at their own expense post- 
wagons, horses, and couriers. This became in time an intolerable burden (see p. 463, n. 2). 



426 ITALY AKD THE PROVINCES. [B. C. 31- 

along the roads at a distance of five or six miles, and at each of 
the houses forty horses were constantly ready. By the help of 
these relays, it was easy to travel a hundred miles in a day. 1 
This vast system of life Agrippa exhibited in his painted world, 2 
as it was called, which contained a list of countries, rivers, and 
places, with the order and distance of each from Eome. The 
census was taken in the provinces, so that the direct taxes, 
the poll tax and the land tax, as well as the indirect taxes, could 
be justly apportioned. 

3. Commerce. — Eome still remained the emporium of the 
vast commerce from the populous provinces. Gaul and Spain, 
Sardinia and Sicily, Africa and Egypt were all wheat-growing 
countries, and all contributed their produce to the support of 
Eome and Italy. The products of India — fabrics of cotton and 
silk, both then rare and costly, pearls and diamonds, gums and 
spices — found their way directly from the mouths of the Indus 
and the coast of Malabar to Berenice and thence to Alexandria. 
Papyrus, the best writing-material then known, came from 
Egypt ; woollens from Miletus and Laodicea, and wines from 
Greece. Each community retained for the most part its own 
commercial laws and custom duties, and the direct traffic with 
Eome was free to all. The awe-stricken provincial gazed in 
wonder on the imperial city. Along her great highways the 
armies marched, and a knowledge of her laws and institutions 
was carried to every corner of the earth. 3 All this helped 
to foster the sense of unity and common dependence, and 
paved the way for fusing into one family the manifold nations 
of the Italo-Hellenic empire. 

4. The Imperial City. — The imperial city itself grew 
more magnificent and imposing. The great highways that 
pierced the Servian walls and found their centre in the forum, 
the vast aqueducts, the temples, the baths, all made it in the 
eyes of the Orientals and Greeks an object of veneration 4 and 

1 At a later time it is known that a magistrate traveled from Antioch to Constan- 
tinople in 5} days, a distance of 725 Roman miles = 665 English miles. 

2 Orbis pictus. 3 Merivale. 

* Under the reign of Augustus was completed the Basilica Julia, the Pantheon, the 
Septa Julia of marble, the theatre of Marcellus (twelve arches still standing on the via 
del Theatro di Marcello) erected in b. c. 13 by Marcellus, and the Portico of Octavia. 



A. D. 14.] 



ITALY AND THE PROVINCES. 



427 



wonder. Within its walls the three great civilizations — the 
Latin, the Greek, and the Oriental — found their centre, while 
from it emanated influences before which, as Eoman culture 
gradually spread, the laws, customs, and languages of the 
provinces yielded more and more. 




Thu Pantheon 7 — (its peesent condition, 1879;. 

5. The Aristocracy Humbled. — We have already spoken 
of the measures of Augustus to humble the aristocracy. The 
former powers and privileges of the aristocracy he took to him- 
self, and sought to open to them new avenues of honor accord- 
ing to the promptness of submission. The senate, as formerly, 
formed the centre round which the new aristocracy revolved. 
Its chief task was to devise and carry into execution the will of 
the emperor, while preserving before the eyes of the world the 
appearance of independence. Beside the senate, Augustus insti- 

1 This was one of the many edifices erected in the Campus Martins by Agrippa in 
B. c. 27, and was dedica f ed to Mars, Venus, Julius Cse-ar, and all the deifies of the Julian 
line, and hence called Pantheon. It is now the church of S. Maria ad Martyres. The 
belfries at the corners are modern additions. This is the only ancient edifice at Rome 
which is still in a good state of preservation. The original statues and decorations 
have been replaced by modern works. Five steps formerly ascended to the pavement, 
but the ground has now been raised to the pavement. Two marble reliefs excavated ill 
front of the temple, are now in the vestibule. 



428 ITALY AND THE PROVINCES. [B. C. 31- 

tuted in B. c. 27 a privy council, 1 selected from the number of 
his most devoted and trusted confidants, which prepared and 
put into shape important affairs of state or legislative measures. 

6. The Equestrian Order. — As a connecting link between 
the senatorial class and the mass of the people, stood the 
equestrian order, 2 whose chief business was, as formerly, that 
of bankers and merchants. To this class belonged also the 
sons 3 of senators, until they were admitted to the senate, as 
well as those who possessed the requisite census like Maecenas, 
but still were not members of the senate. 

7. The People.— -Below these stood the mass of the 
people that only demanded ease and tranquillity, bread and 
public shows. 4 The number of festivals was largely increased. 
Augustus himself instituted extraordinary festivities — eight 
gladiatorial games in which as many as ten thousand gladia- 
tors appeared, contests with athletes and running in the circus, 
animal hunts, and feasts at the dedication of the temple of 
Mars Ultor. Poorer citizens were provided for in new colonies. 
The recipients of the largesses of corn, which, under Caesar, 
had fallen to 170,000, were raised again to 200,000, and in 
B.C. 5, to 320,000. This number receiving the largesses of 
corn which was bestowed upon all males down to the small 
children, shows, if we count the women, an unemployed and 
thriftless population of 600, 000. 5 This vast mass, swayed by 
every gust of passion, although wholly deprived of political 
power, for the popular assemblies had lost all real share in 
legislation, exercised considerable influence. They still prided 
themselves that they represented the Eoman people, and the 
emperor sought to conciliate their favor. 

8. The Condition of Italy. — The rest of Italy might be 
considered the suburbs of Eome. The energy and native 
vigor of the Italians had, for the most part, perished in their 

1 Concilium secretum principis. 

2 Those who possessed 400,000 sesterces and were born from free parents. 

3 They were distinguished by the name of equites illustres. 

4 Panem et Circenses. 

5 The population of Home was in b. c. 4, according to Friedlander (Sittengesch. Roms, 
p. 54 ff) and Gibbon, about one million ; according to Lipsius. at about the same time, 
four million ; Zumpt and Marquardt set it at two millions : Merivale, at about 562,000. 
The only means of determining the population is from the number of recipients of 
corn. Hock's estimation based on the Mm. Ancy. has been disproved by the discovery 
of the new Greek text, 



A. D. 14. ITALY AND THE PKOVIKCES. 429 

contest with Rome for independence. Augustus tried to 
remedy the confusion occasioned by the confiscations, and 
sought to restore order and peace. For this purpose he divided 
the whole of Italy into eleven regions, and magistrates were 
appointed who made life and property secure. In order to 
promote the participation of the Italians in the popular assem- 
blies at Kome, it was arranged that the decuriones 1 of each 
city could vote at home and send the result to Eome, which 
is as near an approach to the modern representative system 
as any nation in antiquity ever attained. 

9. The Army. — On the army the existence of the whole 
fabric of the Roman state mainly depended, for it guaranteed 
security against internal as well as external foes. At the close 
of the civil war Augustus had fifty legions of which he re- 
tained eighteen in his service. To this number he added in 
b. c. 4, eight new legions, but afterwards lost three in the 
defeat of Varus, which he replaced by two new ones, thus leav- 
ing at his death twenty-five legions. Their stations for the 
most part remained fixed and permanent. Eight were stationed 
along the left bank of the Rhine, three in Spain, seven in 
Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia, four on the eastern frontier 
of Asia, two in Egypt, and one in Africa. 2 Rome and Italy 
were protected by the praetorian and city cohorts. The aggre- 
gate of these legions formed an army of at least three hundred 
thousand men. 3 The soldiers formed a separate class, and 
being far removed as they were for the most part from the 
demoralizing influences of the capital, they preserved much 
of the old virtue, pride and bravery of Rome. The time 
of service was fixed in b. c. 5, for the praetorians, at sixteen 
years, and for the others, at twenty. 4 On the army rested the 
strength -of the empire, and it was not long in discovering 
the secret. Soon the praetorians and later the legions in the 
provinces disposed of the throne at their will. 

1 The members of the provincial senate. 

3 For the stations of the legions in a. d. 23, see map, p. 439; alsoMarquardt, 1. c, p. 433. 

3 Merivale's (vol. iii., p. 411 if.) estimate is a little different ; the number in the text 
is based on the estimate of Mommsen (Mon. Anc, p. 47). 

* Each legionary received 225 denarji ; each praetorian, 720 denarii or daily two 
denarii. Domitian reduced the pay of the legionaries.— Marquardt, 1. c, p. 465. 



430 MILITARY OPERATIONS. [B. C. 27. 

10. Fleets. — A regular navy was organized to keep the 
seas clear of pirates, to guard grain ships, and convoy the 
vessels bringing tribute from the East or the West. It was 
under the command of Agrippa, and was stationed at Kavenna, 
Misenum and Forum Julii (Frejus) in Gaul. 



CHAPTER H.IX. 



The Military Operations — Invasion of Germany — The 
Imperial Family. 

1. Measures in Gaul. — Augustus carried on numerous 
and important wars either in person or by his lieutenants, but 
his efforts were directed to secure peace and tranquillity, not to 
extend the boundaries of the empire. In B. c. 27, he departed 
by the Flammian way, through northern Italy to Lugdunum 
(Lyons), where he remained for some time in settling the 
boundaries of the four provinces into which Gaul was divided, 
and in devising a system of roads centering in Lugdunum. 
Here, as in Italy, he humbled the aristocracy. The republic 
had found it for its interest to elevate the aristocratic party 
first in the Italian towns, then in the provinces. In this more 
than in anything else, the monarch found it for his interest to 
change the old policy. The defence of the frontier along the 
Ehine was carried out on the plan in which Caesar had con- 
ceived it. These encampments, which were for the most part 
fixed and permanent, w T ere the foundations for the flourishing 
cities that grew up on the left bank of the Ehine. 

2. Other Conquests. — Augustus then employed his army 
against the rebellious Iberians, but being taken sick he left the 
conquest of the Cantabri to his lieutenant. Military colonies 1 
were founded for the protection of the country, and the Latin 
language and customs were introduced. The Salassi 2 were chas- 

1 About sixteen colonies, among which were Corduba (Cordova), and Ccesarea 
Augusta (Saragossa). 

2 They had oflfered resistance when, Augustus passsed through their country to Gaul, 



432 MILITAKT OPERATIONS. [b. C. 22. 

tised, the colony of Augusta Prcetoria (Aosta) was founded, and 
thus the great highways oyer the Little and Great St. Bernard 
were rendered secure. An expedition was undertaken into the 
spice region of Arabia Felix under JElius Gallus in b. c. 24, 
but it was unsuccessful. On the southern borders of Egypt some 
successes were gained against Candice, the Ethiopian queen. 

3. Visit to the East. — In b. c. 22, Augustus made a pro- 
longed visit to the East. On his way, colonies were planted 
in Sicily, special privileges were conferred on Sparta ; Tyre 
and Sidon felt the powerful arm of the monarch. The great 
object of the tour — to secure the standards taken from Crassus 
by the Parthians — was accomplished. 

4. Secular Games. — When Augustus returned to Eome 
the imperium was conferred upon him for another five years, 
and as the empire could be considered as securely established, 
he determined to celebrate the event by secular games. The 
Sibylline books were examined ; and the forms of the ceremony 
were investigated with great care. Heralds traversed the streets 
inviting the citizens to witness a spectacle which "none of them 
had ever seen, and none could ever see again." Sacrifices 
were offered, the " game of Troy" was enacted, presents were 
distributed to the people, and the festival ended by singing 
a choral ode composed by Horace for the occasion. 

5. Campaigns on the Rhine.— In b. c. 15 the Ehaeti and 
the Vindelici were subjugated by the emperor's stepsons, the 
former by Drusus Claudius ISTero, who entered the country of 
the Ehseti over the Tridentine Alps ; the latter by Tiberius, who 
ascended the valley of the Ehine from Gaul as far as Lake 
Constance. 1 Severer and bloodier contests were, met with on 
the Bhenish and the Danubian frontier. The Ehine had long 
been regarded as the permanent boundary of the empire in that 
quarter, and the chain of fortified posts along the left bank 
had served to check the incursions of the Germans. The em- 
peror's stepsons were desirous of extending the Eoman power 

1 The road over the Brenner to Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum) was constructed 
(extended by Claudius to the Danube). About the same time king Cottius submitted, 
and the roads over Mont Cenis, M. Genevre, and M. Viso secured ; a column was erected 
at Segusio (Susa) in memory of this victory, which is still preserved, on which the names 
of fifteen Alpine subjects of Cottius were inscribed, 



B. C. 12.] MILITARY OPERATIONS. 433 

into Germany. Caesar had conquered the Gauls ; Drusus wished 
to conquer the Teutons. He strengthened the line of fortifica- 
tions along the Khine from Basle 1 to the Waal. In order to 
open communication with the country he constructed a canal 2 
from the lower Khine to the Zuyder Zee, 3 and from thence to 
the mouths of the rivers emptying into the North sea. In b. c. 
12, Drusus conveyed his army up this canal to the mouth of 
the Ems, 4 subdued the island of Burchana (BorJcum), at the 
mouth of the river, then proceeded up the river to the Bruc- 
teri, whom he defeated in battle. The next year he entered the 
country of the Usipii and planted an outpost on the Lippe. 
This success so encouraged Drusus that he urged another expe- 
dition beyond the Rhine, and Augustus unwillingly yielded. 
Drusus crossed the Ehine near Mayence, subdued the Chatti, 
penetrated into the country of the Cherusci, and reached the 
Elbe. Great dangers beset his path. Omens were invented to 
excuse his hasty return. A woman of more than mortal stature 
warned him of the fate that was impending over him. Before 
the army gained the Ehine, Drusus fell from his horse and died 
of his injuries. Tiberius was summoned to the Rhine to com- 
plete the conquests which Drusus had begun. The tribes 
nearest the Rhine seemed exhausted by the long continued 
wars ; even the Sigambri sent ambassadors to treat for peace. 
These ambassadors were seized by Augustus and distributed 
among the cities of Gaul. The people, deprived of their leaders, 
submitted, and remained peaceful until the severity of the 
governor, Q. Varus, aroused their patriotic spirits. 

6. The Emperor's Popularity. — Augustus had carried on 
his great enterprises thus far with success at home and abroad. 
Security of life and property was guaranteed throughout the 
empire. He was unwearied in his efforts for his people. For 
this prosperity they were invited from time to time to thank 
the gods. The poets celebrated the feeling of gratitude and 
love between the people and the emperor. He looked upon 
the people as his children, and they hailed him as " father of 

1 Augusta Kauracorum. 2 Fossa Drusiana. 

8 Flavo L. * Amisia F. Vacalus. 



434 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 



[B. C. 12. 



his country." When Valerius Messala, in b. c. 2, greeted him 
in the senate as "father of his country," Augustus replied with 
tears that " his wishes were fulfilled ; that his vows were accom- 
plished, and that nothing more remained for him to ask from 
the immortal gods than that he might retain to his dying day 
the unanimous approval of all orders." The people and the 
equestrian order took up the voice of the senate, still there were 
some remains of that old republican stoical spirit. Several con- 
spiracies alarmed the emperor. In b. c. 30, Lepidus, the son 
of the triumvir, formed a plot against his life. It was detected 
by Maecenas, and the author put to death. In B. c. 22, and 
again in b. c. 19 and b. c. 2, others were discovered in similar 
attempts, but these were mere isolated evidences of dissatis- 
faction. The people in general called down blessings on Augus- 
tus, the father of his country. 

7. The Imperial Family. — In the circle of his own 
household and family, Augustus * was not exempt from bereave- 
ment and sorrow. In b. c. 12 and B. c. 8, he lost his two most 
trusted friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. Of his stepsons, the 
nobler and more beloved, Drusus, was taken from him in b. c. 
9 ; while Tiberius, indignant at the dissolute conduct of his 

1 Genealogical list of Augustus and his family : 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE. * 

Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus m. 
1. Claudia. 2. Scribonia (see p. ). 3. Liyia Drusilla. 



1. M. Marcellus, 

(no issue.) 



Julia m. 
2. M. V. Agrippa. 



3. Tiberius (emperor), 
(no issue.) 



1. G. Caesar m. Livia, 
the sister of Ger- 
manicus, died a. d. 4. 



2. L. CAESAR. 



3. Julia m. 
L. JEmilius 
Paulus. 

I 



4. Agrippa m. 5. Agrippa Postu- 
Germanicus. mus ; put to 
death in a. d. 14. 



1. M. ^Emilius Lepi- 
dus m. Drusilla, 
d. of Germanicus. 



2. ^Emilia Lepida 
m. 1. A. J. Sila- 
nus ; 2. Drusus. 



1. L. Sllanus. 2. M. Sllanus. 3. Junia Calvlna. 



1. Nero m. Julia, d. of Drusus, 

son of Tiberius. 
4. Agrippina m. Cn. Domitius. 



Nero (emperor). 



2. Drusus m. ^Emilia 3. Caligula (emperor). 
Lepida. 
5. Drusilla m. 1. L. Cassius ; 6. Liyia m. 1. M. 
& M. JBmilius Lepidus. Vicinius ; 2. Q. 

Varus. 



A.D. 6.] TKOUBLES IN" THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 435 

wife Julia, and the honors bestowed upon her sons by Agrippa, 
withdrew to Khodes where he remained seven years a discon- 
tented exile. At length the dissolute conduct of Julia com- 
pelled Augustus — instigated as he was by his wife Livia, who 
hated Julia and looked upon her children as a hindrance to 
the aggrandizement of her own — to banish her to the island of 
Pandataria on the coast of Campania. There still remained 
to Augustus his five grandchildren, sons of Julia and Agrippa, 
on the two oldest of whom Gajus and Lucius Caesar, rested the 
foundation of his joy and hope and plans for the future. 

8. Troubles in the Imperial Family. 1 — The position of 
the emperor was becoming lonely and precarious. The world 
was at peace. The impulses that had moved Eome were sup- 
pressed. The emperor appeared no more in the popular as- 
semblies, and in the senate and public festivals but seldom. 
The vast expenses of his government compelled him to im- 
pose a tax upon the Eomans, 2 which, to the end of his reign, 
remained a cause of complaint and dissatisfaction. About the 
same time a pestilence swept over Italy. It was evident that 
the tide of popular favor was ebbing. Finally the premature 
death of his two grandsons, G. and L. Caesar, compelled him 
to adopt Tiberius. Eumors spread that Livia and her son 
Tiberius had removed the two Caesars. All happiness fled 
from the breast of the - emperor. He adopted Tiberius and 
Agrippa Postumus, while Tiberius was compelled to adopt the 
young Germanicus. 3 The tribunitian power was conferred upon 
Tiberius for life in b. c. 9, and the proconsular power in b. c. 13. 

9. The Empire Shows Signs of Weakness. — In 
A. d. 6, great preparations were made for a campaign against 
Maroboduus, the king of the Marcomanni, a powerful people in 
Germany in the modern Bohemia. At the head of six legions 
Tiberius advanced from Carnutum 4 against Maroboduus 
through the Hercynian forest, united with his lieutenant who 
was leading an equal force from the East, and was within a 
few days march of the enemy, when an insurrection in Pan- 

1 See p. 435. " See p. 425. 

s Drusus had been honored with the title of Germanicus, which was allowed to descend 
to his son, * Near Haimburg. 



436 DEFEAT OF VAKUS. [A. D; 9. 

nonia and Dalmatia warned him to turn back. The struggle 
in these countries to throw off the Koman yoke lasted for three 
years. The insurrection produced a tremendous impression in 
Italy. The senate was summoned, the slaves armed; the enemy, 
it was said, could be in Eome in ten days. A powerful army 
was raised, and the Dalmatians and Pannonians were at last 
compelled to submit. It was evident that the empire began to 
show signs of weakness. Augustus himself was dispirited. 
The populace began to murmur against him. The bereave- 
ments in his own household cast a shadow over his life. 

10. Varus Defeated by Arminius. — The emperor's last 
days were further clouded by a great political disaster. P. Quin- 
tilius Varus was governor in Germany, and as he saw no signs 
of resistance, he believed that he could rule the Germans as he 
had formerly ruled the effeminate and servile Syrians. Without 
troubling himself about military measures, he traveled over the 
country, imposed taxes, and pronounced decisions as if he were 
a praetor in the forum at Eome. Among the bold and turbu- 
lent Germans the spirit of freedom and independence only slum- 
bered ; it was not broken. The national hero Arminius * raised 
the standard of revolt. Under this prince a confederacy of all 
the tribes between the Ehine and the Weser 2 was formed, to 
throw off the yoke of Eome. The governor collected three 
legions and advanced in a. d. 9, to quell the revolt. The Ger- 
mans retired ; but the Eomans pushed on until they had 
advanced into the Tentoburger forest. Then Arminius turned 
and defeated them with tremendous slaughter. 3 The denies of 
the woods were covered far and wide with the corpses of the 
army, for nearly forty thousand soldiers perished. The eagles 
were lost, and Varus perished by his own hand. 4 The news of 

1 Hermann. a Visurgis. 

3 Opinions differ in regard to the place where the battle took place. It is generally- 
supposed to have been in that part of Osning near the source of the Ems and Lippe 
(almost directly south of Bielefeld) ; it is here that the mammoth statue of Hermann 
was erected in 1877. Hiilsenbeck (Forsch. z. d. Gesch., vol. vi., p. 413 ff.) thinks the 
battle took place between Unna and Werl. Kecently, H. Brandes (Neue Yahrb. 1877) has 
raised serious doubts in regard to the date of the battle ; it seems probable that it was 
fought a. d. 10, and that Tiberius's triumph took place A. d. 11. 

* The Teutonic tribes, pressed by the Eomans on the Elbe and by the Sclavonic 
nations on the Oder and Vistula, would have been either gradually overpowered and 
lost, or, at any rate, would never have been able to spread that regenerating influence 



A. D. 14.] DEATH OF AUGUSTUS. 437 

the disaster caused the utmost alarm in Rome. The emperor 
himself was astounded. In his despair he dashed his head 
against the wall and exclaimed, " Varus ! Varus ! give me back 
my legions." The next year Tiberius crossed the Rhine, but 
the Germans refused battle and he was satisfied with strength- 
ening the defences on the frontier, and withdrew from the 
country. The Rhine became once more the frontier of the 
empire. Tiberius returned to Rome to celebrate his triumph 
over the Pannonians. 

11. Death of Augustus. — The emperor's health had long 
been delicate ; it was plain that it was now failing. In the 
summer A. D. 14, Tiberius was to advance into Illyricum once 
more, and Augustus accompanied him as far as Beneventum. 
On his return Augustus was taken ill at !S r ola. Here he died on 
the 19th of August, A. D. 14, thirty-five days before the comple- 
tion of his seventy-sixth year. It is said that as he was dying 
he asked those around him "if he had not acted well his part." 
There was much truth in these words, for he had in truth 
been an actor in all he did. 

12. The Prosperity of the Empire.— The long and 
peaceful reign of Augustus must be considered a fortunate age 
for the Roman people. The restoration of the republic would 
have been only the signal for new commotions. The govern- 
ment of Augustus, if not the best, was the best that the Roman 
people were fitted for. Security in person and property had been 
established, and the arts of peace had flourished. Augustus 
could well boast that he " found Rome of brick and left it of 
marble/"' Attention was given to agriculture, and a warm en- 
couragement to literature, so that his age was the most brilliant 
in Roman annals. Under his rule commerce rode securely on 
every sea. The products of agriculture increased both in Italy 
and the provinces. The peace, the prosperity, and the refine- 
over the best portions of Europe to which the excellence of our modern institutions 
may, in great measure, be referred. If this be so, the victory of Arminius deserves to 
be reckoned among those signal deliverances which have-affected for centuries the 
happiness of mankind ; and we may regard the destruction of Quintilius Varus and 
his three legions on the banks of the Lippe, as second only, in benefits derived from it, 
to the victories of Charles Martel at Tour, over the invading hosts of the Moham- 
medans.— Encyc. Metr, 



438 THE MOISTUMENTUM AXCYKANUM. [A. D. 14. 

ment that prevailed, made his reign, if we compare it with that 
which preceded or followed, a memorable era in Roman history. 
13. The Monumentum Ancyranum— His funeral was 
celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. Besides his testa- 
ment 1 he left three other documents: one a summary of the 
important events during his reign, which were to be engraved 
upon a brazen tablet and placed before his mausoleum. The 




Mausoleum of Augustus Restored. 2 

greater part of this precious document engraved upon the wall 
of a temple in Ancyra, in the Greek and Latin languages, has 
been preserved. In the second document were directions in 
regard to the funeral ceremonies. The third contained a list of 
the military forces, of the incomes and expenses, and the 
resources of the state. 3 

1 Livia and Tiberius were his principal heirs ; Livia was to receive the name of 
Augusta ; 1,500.000 sesterces were to be distributed among the people. Each praetorian 
was to have 1000, each soldier of the city cohort 500, etc. 

2 This was erected in the Campus Martins. The remains are to be found on the Via 
de 1 Pontefici, No. 57. In the Middle Ages it was used as a fortress. Only a few of the 
tomb-chambers are preserved, 3 Index rerum a se gestarum, 



440 



THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. [A, D. 14-37. 



chapter lx. 

The Eeigns of Tiberius Cesar and of Gajus Caligula. 

1. During his long reign Augustus had fully attained his 
purpose. The monarchy was established. 1 He left no children 
to succeed to his empire. After the death 
of his grandsons Gajus and Lucius Caesar, 
whom we have already mentioned, the 
only hope of a peaceful succession rested 
in Tiberius. 2 Augustus therefore asso- 
ciated him with himself in the govern- 
ment, to which, after repeating the same 
policy that had been so successful with his 
predecessor in pretending that he wished 
to be exempt from the emperor's duties, 
he succeeded at the age of fifty-six. 

2. Constitutional Changes. — The 
last remnant of power, the election of 
magistrates, was taken from the people 
and transferred to the senate. The 




1 The character of the old republican government was totally changed. No traces 
were to be found of the spirit of ancient institutions. The system by which every 
citizen shared in the government being thrown aside, all men regarded the orders of the 
prince as the only rule of conduct and obedience. (Tacitus, An. L, 4.) 

2 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

Livia Drusilla m. Tiberius Claudius Nero. 

(See p. 435.) 



Nero Cl. Drusus senior, 

afterwards Drusus Germanicus ; 

m. Antonia, minor. 



Germanicus Livia m. 1. Cjesar ; 
Caesar m. 2. D, CLesar junior. 
Agrippina, 



Tiberius Nero Caesar 

(emperor Tiberius) ; m. 1. 

Vipsani^ Agrippa. 



G. Ti. Cl. Dr. CLesar. 

(emperor Claudius) 

m. Urgulanilla. 



Drusus Caesar junior ; 

died a. d. 23 leaving a 

daughter Julia, 



Drusus died a. d. 20, 



A. D. 14-37.] THE KEIGN OF TIBERIUS OESAR. 441 

emperor nominated candidates from which the senate elected 
the praetors and consuls. The people simply announced 1 the 
election. The emperor assumed the appearance of great 
moderation. He rejected all adulation, and permitted the 
senate to decide with freedom the measures which he proposed. 
Every word, however, was treasured up for future recompense. 

3. The Revolt of the Legion. — During the reign of 
Augustus there had been great dissatisfaction among the sol- 
diers. They demanded an increase of pay and a limit to their 
term of service. When Tiberius assumed the throne, this dis- 
satisfaction broke out into open enmity. To the legions in 
Pannonia, Tiberius dispatched his son Drusus, who gave 
assurances that their grievances should be redressed. An 
opportune eclipse of the moon restored his ascendency over the 
minds of the superstitious soldiers. Germanicus met with 
equal success on the Rhine, where the sedition was quelled. 

4. The Invasion of Germany. — Germanicus transported 
his legions over the Rhine 2 in order to find employment for 
the discontented soldiers and to avenge the slaughter of Varus. 
The Cherusci were defeated, and the bones of the Roman soldiers, 
which had been bleaching in the Teutoberger forest for six 
years, were buried. One of the lost eagles was recovered, but 
an ambuscade prepared by Arminius demanded all the skill of 
Germanicus to extricate his army. Again all the resources of 
Gaul, Spain, and Italy were taxed for another campaign. The 
army was conveyed through the Drusus canal to the Zuyder Zee 
and so to the Ems, and from thence to the Weser, where a 
great battle was fought. The results, however, were indecisive ; 
the German tribes were far from being subdued, when Tibe- 
rius, jealous of the fame that Germanicus was acquiring, re- 
called him on the pretext that events required his services in 
the East. Germanicus, after celebrating his triumph, 3 in which 
the wife of Arminius and the recovered standards of Varus de- 
lighted the people, departed to the East. Here he accomplished 
his task with great skill. Commagene and Cappadocia were 

1 Benuntiatio. 2 See map, p. 431. 3 In a. d. 17. 



44$ THE REIGK OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. [ A. D. 14-37. 

reduced to the form of provinces, 1 and after a tour through 
Egypt, he returned only to sicken and die, poisoned, as it was 
asserted, by Cn. Piso, his adjutant. His death caused great 
grief at Rome. Piso was brought before the senate for trial, 
but when he was called up for his defence he committed 
suicide. 

5. The Law of Majestas. — Meanwhile Tiberius grew more 
gloomy and suspicious. Everything that stood in the way 
of his imperial authority was crushed with a cruel hand. 
The members of the few noble houses that were left deemed 
themselves quite equal to the emperor. These, therefore, were 
the especial objects of Tiberius' jealousy. He sought to hum- 
ble and depress them. Against the intrigues of the discon- 
tented class the law of majestas 2 was revived. This law applied 
originally only to acts against the commonwealth, but Augus- 
tus had extended it to defamatory writings. The law was 
now used to throw a protection around the person of the em- 
peror. Not only acts, but even words or conduct which could 
be considered as dangerous to his safety were declared to be 
embraced in the law. A host of informers 3 started up. En- 
couraged as they were by Tiberius, every place swarmed with 
them, and the lives of the higher classes were rendered insecure. 
Suspicion spread into every grade of society, for every friend 
might prove a traitor. If any one wished to pay off an old 
debt of vengeance, or to retrieve his fortune, he had but to 
choose his victim, and invent a crime or some plausible story, 
or report some careless word or threat against the emperor. 
In fact, it was dangerous to speak and equally dangerous to 
keep silent, for silence even might be construed into discontent. 

6. The Character of Sejanus. — Tiberius called none of 
the higher classes to aid him in the government. He formed 
no "privy council" like Augustus, but resolved to administer 
the whole government himself. This was impossible, and he 

1 See map, p. 439. 

2 The crime of majestas (see p. 258, n. 6) was defined by Saturninus in b. c. 100, in 
order to guard the champions of the plebeians. Sulla restricted it to acts against the 
state. Under Caesar the law remained the same, but Augustus extended it to writings 
intended to bring the emperor into contempt. 

3 Delatores. 



A. D. 14-37.] THE REIOK 0£ TIBERIUS C^SAK. 443 

therefore looked for some one to assist him who was too mean 
in origin to be dangerous. This man was iElius Sejanus, 
whom he placed in command of the praetorian guards. 1 Sejanus 
conceived the bold design of securing the succession of the 
throne to himself. It was evident that the government would 
descend in the family of the Caesars. He therefore determined 
to destroy the heirs to the throne and leave it open to Tiberius 
to make an independent appointment. Drusus was soon re- 
moved by poison. He inspired the emperor with hatred of - 
Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus. Finally Sejanus persuaded 
Tiberius to retire to the island of Capreae and leave the affairs 
of the capital in his hands. Other members of the imperial 
family, Agrippina and her two sons Drusus and Gajus, were 
removed or imprisoned. Sejanus, the Eomans said, ruled at, 
Rome, while Tiberius was lord of one island. Tiberius became 
jealous of Sejanus, who had already determined to assassinate 
the emperor, but Tiberius was too crafty for him, and Sejanus 
was betrayed, seized, and executed (a. d. 31). 

7. Death of Tiberius. — For a moment the citizens hoped 
that Tiberius would return to the mild policy of his earlier 
years. He grew, however, more morose and cruel. In fits 
of gloomy insanity, he gave away to his cruel nature. Many 
were put to death, while others in despair sought relief from 
the general degradation and terror by suicide. Meanwhile the 
excesses and the unnatural profligacies to which Tiberius had 
abandoned himself, had impaired his constitution. His feeble 
health promised Eome a speedy deliverance from the tyrant's 
rule. He expired in the seventy-eighth year of his age and 
the twenty-third of his reign. 2 

8. Character of Tiberius. — The character of Tiberius 
as painted by Tacitus was hateful and contemptible. There 
can, however, be no doubt that in the first years of his reign, he 
governed with firmness and ability. He devoted himself to 

1 The prretorians were collected in a camp inside of the city ; the camp was near 
where the railroad station now is, in the Campo di Maccao or Militare. 

9 His property was left to Tiberius Claudius Drusus, son of the elder Drusns, and 
Gajus, the son of Germanicus, and Tiberius Gemellus, the son of the second Drusus. 
Gajus was a favorite with the legions, and had received the nickname of Caligula, from 
caliga, military buskin. 



444 THE REIGK OF CALIGULA. [A. D. 37-41. 

the government of Italy, maintained order in the capital, and 
never to the very last relaxed his care of the provinces and the 
frontier. In the trials * for high treason, Tiberius at first often 
interposed on behalf of the accused. Instances of his liber- 
ality 2 are mentioned. There can be no doubt that he began 
his reign with a desire to adminster equal justice. Even in 
his later years, when a great change had taken place, the stories 
of his cruelty and suspicion related by Tacitus and Suetonius 
must be accepted with some degree of allowance. 

9. Caligula (a. d. 37-41). — Tiberius associated no one 
with himself in the government. He designated no one to the 
throne on his death. The senate, however, recognized Gajus 
Caesar, commonly called Caligula, the favorite of the army, 
and invested him with all the powers of his predecessor. He 
commenced his reign by issuing a general pardon to all state 
prisoners. He paid great deference to the senate. He was 
apparently mild and generous, and the people formed great 
expectations of a peaceful and happy reign. He banished the * 
delators from Italy, revised the roll of the senate, restored the 
comitia for the election of magistrates, and as consul, he pro- 
posed many just and liberal measures. He threw himself into 
the work of government with all the energy of his impetuous 
nature. The labor was too much for him. His brain was 
excitable. When he slept, his dreams were wild and terrible. 
There were symptoms of madness in his nature. From this 
time he rushed into the wildest dissipations and extravagancies. 

10. Sports of the Amphitheatre. — The games of the 
amphitheatre were celebrated with great magnificence. Not 
only senators and knights were forced to the indignity of ex- 
hibiting themselves in the arena, but the emperor himself fought 
as a gladiator, his safety being insured by the blunted swords of 
his antagonists. Augustus had limited the number of gladia- 
tors, but now these restrictions were disregarded and whole 
bands were slaughtered. The combats of wild beasts were on 

1 Freytag counts up only 147 trials in all. and as some were tried twice, only 134 per- 
sons accused of high treason ; Sievers (Tacitus and Tiberius, p. 44), enumerates in the 
last six years only 48. 

2 In the time of the great fire, when many people were left homeless and destitute. 



A. D. 37-41.] THE REIGN OF CALIGULA. 445 

the same magnificent scale. When the number of condemned 
criminals were not enough to satisfy the emperor's thirst for 
blood, then the spectators were exposed to the lions. 

11. Caligula's Extravagance. — When his sister, whom he 
had married, died, Caligula had a golden statue erected to her in 
the senate-house and also one in the temple of Venus, and the 
senate decreed her divine honors under the name of Panthea. 
He completed the temple of Augustus, began the Claudian aque- 
duct, that of the Anio Novus, 1 and constructed a bridge 2 from 
his residence on the Palatine, across the forum to the capitol, in 
order to facilitate his intercourse with the Capitoline Jupiter, 
whose image on earth he pretended to be. His vast extrava- 
gance soon wasted the treasures 3 that Tiberius had accumulated, 
and he was forced to resort to increased taxation and to extor- 
tions. The law of majestas was revived. Executions, exiles 
and confiscations became frequent. When these resources were 
exhausted at Eome, he led an army into Gaul and put to death 
the richest citizens there, and confiscated their property. 

12. His Impiety. — Caligula had been imbued in his youth 
with the ideas of the oriental potentates by Herod Agrippa, a 
Jewish chief who had been brought up in the palace with him. 
Stories were reported that Caligula had said that he was going 
to assume the diadem like an oriental prince. He pretended 
to commune with Jove himself, and finally proclaimed himself 
a deity and ordered his statue to be erected for worship in the 
temple of Apollo at Miletus, in Asia Minor, and in the temple 
of the Jews at Jerusalem. He appeared in the costumes of 
Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, Juno, Diana and Venus in turn, 
pretended to imitate the thunder and lightning of Jove, and 
finally proclaimed himself supreme over all the gods. 

13. His Insane Insolence. — On one occasion this tyrant 
is said to have exclaimed, "Would that the people of Rome 
had but one neck ! " His demeanor grew more insolent until 
finally he was struck down in the fourth year of his reign by 
one of the praetorians whom he had insulted. 

1 This was raised on arches 109 feet high and brought water from a distance of 59 
Roman miles. See p. 447. 

2 Remains of this bridge have been found on the Palatine, just below the Clivus 
Victoria. 3 270,000 sesterces. 



446 £HE EEIGK OF CLAUDIUS. f A. D. 41-54. 



chapter lxi. 

Reigns of Claudius and of Nero— Contest for the 
Empire — Gtalba, Otho and Yitellius. 

1. Claudius (a. d. 41-54). — After the death of Caligula 
great confusion prevailed at Home.. It was evident that there 
was a vital defect in the government. No provision was made 
for a regular succession. The right to nominate a successor the 
senate might have assumed for itself ; but while the senators were 
discussing the feasibility of restoring the republic, the praeto- 
rians acted. They found Claudius 1 in the palace hidden behind 
a curtain, dragged him out and proclaimed him emperor. 
Hitherto he had been thought to be imbecile, and had been 
left to grow up in obscurity and neglect. His fear was exces- 
sive, and he sought to propitiate the nobles rather than to 

\ crush them as Tiberius and Caligula had done. He set him- 
self diligently to work, recalled the exiles, reversed many of 
the arbitrary measures of Caligula, and seemed intent on secur- 
ing a return to good government. 

2. Invasion of Germany and Britain. — There was re- 
newed activity in the armies on the frontier. The army crossed 
the Ehine and chastised the Chatti and Chauci. The most 
important enterprise, however, was an expedition to Britain. 
For years but little interest had been taken in this country. 
The rapid progress of Roman civilization in Northern Gaul, the 
growth of cities on the banks of the Rhine, 2 and the spread of 
commercial relations along the shores of Holland, had awak- 
ened a spirit of friendly intercourse with Britain. Londin- 
ium (London), which Tacitus describes as "famed for the vast 
concourse of traders, and her abundant commerce and plenty," 
had become a centre of trade, and the vessels of the Thames 
found their way to the Rhine. Under Claudius the southern 

1 He was the youngest son of the elder Brutus and Antonia. 

2 The places such as Augusta Trevirorum ( Treves) on the Moselle, and Colonia Claudia 
Augusta Agrippinensis ( Cologne) named in honor of his wife Agrippa. 



A. D. 41-54.] 



THE REIGN" OF CLAUDIUS. 



447 



part of Britain to the Avon and Severn was conquered, fortifica- 
tions were erected and the colony of Camulodunum {Colchester) 
founded. From here, as a centre, Roman arts, manners and trade 
found their way into the yet unconquered regions of the island. 1 

3. Eastern Princes. — In the East the frontier provinces 
were placed under the gov- 
ernment of native princes. 
Herod Agrippa was con- 
firmed in the government 
of Galilee ; Antiochus was 
restored to the throne of 
Commagene, and Mithri- 
dates received the kingdom 
of Bosporus. 

4. Work at Home.— 
At home Claudius at- 
tempted to imitate the 
policy of Augustus. He en- 
deavored to raise the dig- 
nity of the senate, filled up 
its vacancies, and admitted 
noble provincials after the 
example of Caesar. Many 
magnificent works were un- 
dertaken. The "emissary" 
was constructed to drain the 
Fucine lake (lago di Celano), 
a harbor was formed at the 
mouth of the Tiber, and 
the aqueduct began by Gajus was completed. Claudius revised 




Section of the Claudian Aqueduct compared 
with the triple aqueduct of Agrippa. 2 



1 On his return he enlarged the pomerinm. 

- Fig. 1.- -Section of (a) Aqua Claudia and (b) Anio Nova at the Porta Maggiore. 
Both were constructed by the emperor Claudius, A. d. 52 ; the Claudia 45 miles long 
bringing water from the neighborhood of Subiaco on the Via Sublacensis ; the Aqua Nova 
was conducted from the sources of that river; it was 59 miles long and some of the 
arches 109 feet in height ; (c) is an opening to give vent to the air. Fig. 2. - Section of 
the triple aqueduct of Agrippa ; (a) the A qua Marcia built by Q. Marcius Rex, b. c. 144. 
It was 36 miles long and was high enough to supply water to the Capitoline Mount. Pliny 
pronounces the water of this aqueduct the coldest and best of all ; (b) the Aqua Tepula 
built by the censors in b. c. 127 and afterwards connected with the (c) Aqua Julia 
erected by Agrippa b. c. 33. 



448 TJfiE BEIGN" OF hero, [a. d. 54-68. 

the list of the knights, took a census which showed a result of 
5,984,072 citizens representing a population of about twenty- 
four millions. 

5. The Infamous Messalina. — These undertakings were 
at least proofs of good intentions. Claudius, however, had the 
misfortune to marry for his third wife the infamous Messalina. 
Under her influence his reign became disgraceful. She did not 
scruple to show her contempt for Claudius by forcing Silius, a 
young and handsome Roman noble, to public marriage with her- 
self. When this disgrace came to the ears of Claudius, he direct- 
ed her to be executed, and married his niece Agrippina. "■ From 
this moment the government assumed a different character/' 
says Tacitus, "for a woman had control of everything." 

6. The Adoption of Nero. — The great aim of Agrippina 
was to advance her son Domitius and secure for him the succes- 
sion. For this purpose she courted the favor of the army and 
the people, recalled Seneca from banishment and made him her 
son's tutor. Domitius was adopted into the imperial family and 
received the name of Nero. He then married Octavia, the sister 
of Britannicus. 1 Nero was now in his sixteenth, year, and the 
plans of Agrippina were ripe for execution. Claudius was taken 
sick, but she determined to hasten his end by poison. The crime 
of poisoning had become so frequent, that professional poisoners 
existed in abundance. One of these, Locusta, well-known from 
the satire of Juvenal and the irony of Tacitus, prepared the fatal 
potion. The emperor died in the sixty-fourth year of his age. 

7. Nero (a. d. 54-68). — During the first five years 2 of his 
reign, Nero, restrained by his teacher Seneca and Burrus the cap- 
tain of the praetorian guards, governed with mildness, reduced 
the taxes, and increased the authority of the senate. Within 
his own household were his greatest foes. No sooner had he 
ascended the throne than his mother determined to seize the 
reins of government herself. She declared that Britannicus 
was after all the true heir, and that he had arrived at manhood. 
This excited the jealousy of Nero, and Britannicus was put to 

1 Britannicus was the son of Claudius by Messalina. 

2 Quinquennium Neronis. 



A. D. 54-68.] 



THE REIG^ OF NEBO. 



449 



death. Other crimes followed. Agrippina was murdered at 
the- instigation of Poppaea Sabina, the most beautiful woman of 

her age, under whose influence Nero 
fell so completely that he divorced 
his wife Octavia and lived with her 
as his mistress. He plunged into 
the wildest vices, murdered Burrus, 
broke away from Seneca, and with 
Tigellinus as the minister of his 
pleasures, he indulged in the most 
shameless vices. Poppsea's husband 
was sent away to Lusitania as gov- 
ernor, while she aspired to reign as 
empress. 

kero. 8. Proscription of the No- 

bles. — Nero grew more and more 
reckless. The nobles whose wealth tempted him or whose 
influence caused him anxiety, were cut off one by one. All 
restraint was cast aside, as well as all respect for the customs of 
his ancestor. He descended into the arena and contended for 
the prize with singers and musicians, and engaged in contests 
in the circus. He met with great applause from the people, 
but the nobles shuddered at the degradation. 




v 



9. The Great Fire. — In a. d. 64 a conflagration broke 
out near the Circus 'Maxim us. The flames spread over the 
Aventine and the Palatine hills, and through the valleys at their 
base, until a greater part of the lower city resembled a sea of fire. 
Three of the fourteen regions were totally destroyed ; seven 
were injured more or less, while only four escaped uninjured. 
The Capitoline escaped, as also did the forum. Nero was un- 
wearied in his exertions to relieve the people who had lost their 
property. Temporary buildings were erected, and the price of 
corn reduced. In spite of all this, the rumor spread that Nero 
himself had set the city on fire, and then taken his station on 
the villa of Maecenas and chanted "the Sack of Troy," a poem 
composed by himself. He sought to save himself from reproach \ 
by throwing the odium on the Christians, upon whom he inflicted 



i 



450 THE KEIGK OF NEEO. [A. D. 54-68. 

fearful cruelties. 1 New exactions were made both at home and in 
the provinces for the rebuilding of the city. In Greece and Asia 
Minor the treasures in the temples were seized, and the statues of 
the gods carried to Rome. The city rose with marvellous rapidity 
from its ruins. On a part of the area was constructed the new 
palace, " the golden house " as it was called from its splendid deco- 
rations. It occupied a part of the Palatine, and extended to the 
foot of the Esquiline and Ccelian, and included in its vast enclos- 
ure, gardens, artificial lakes, baths and pleasure-grounds. On the 
spot where the Flavian amphitheatre was afterwards erected was 
one of the artificial lakes. Before the house stood the colossal 
statue of Nero, which was one hundred and seventeen feet high. 2 

10. Discontent of the People and the Army. — The exac- 
tions for these expenses caused great discontent, and at length a 
conspiracy was formed under the guidance of Calpurnius Piso. 
It was so unskillfully laid that it was detected, and many victims, 
among whom was Lucan and Seneca, perished. The city, says 
Tacitus, was filled with funerals, while the temples reeked with 
sacrifices. Fear made the tyrant more cruel. Discontent 
reached the armies, and Nero determined to sacrifice his pro- 
consuls. Corbulo in the east was an especial object of suspicion. 
In a.d. 66 Nero undertook a journey through Greece to Egypt. 
In Greece he contended for musical prizes at the national festi- 
vals, and sunk so deep m vices that all classes were disgusted. 
The armies in Spain, Gaul, Africa and Germany raised the 
standard of revolt almost at the same time. " This revealed/' 
says Tacitus, " the secret of the empire, that a prince could be 
created elsewhere than in Borne." When the news of the revolt 
reached Nero he fainted away. " Never," cried he, " was such 
ill-fortune as mine; other Caesars have fallen by the sword, 
I alone must lose the empire while alive." 

11. Death of Nero. — The praetorians deserted Nero, 
and even the populace assailed him with clamors. He fled by 

1 Tacitus xv., 44. Gibbon first suggested that it was on the Jews and not on the 
Christians (the distinction between them not being understood) that Nero wreaked his 
vengeance. Merivale accepts this in the main. Plausible as the view is, it seems hardly 
justifiable to accept it against the clear and definite testimony of Tacitus. 

2 This statue was removed by Hadrian to a pediment a little northeast of the Meta 
Sudans near the Colosseum. 



A. D. 68.] THE REIGNS OF GALBA AND OTHO. 451 

night from the city. The senate met and declared him a pub- 
lic enemy, and doomed him to death " after the manner of the 
ancients." "What is that ?" asked Nero. On being told that 
the culprit was fixed naked with his neck in a cleft stick and 
scourged to death, he called his slave to put an end to his life, 1 
while he muttered, "What a loss my death will be to art." 

12. G-alba and Otho (a.d. 68).— Galba had already been 
proclaimed emperor by his troops, and the senate ratified the 
choice. Hitherto the Romans had never looked outside of the 
Julian line for an imperator ; now that this family was extinct, 
any one might aim for the highest prize. Scarcely had Galba 
arrived in Rome when the legions in Upper Germany revolted. 
This induced him to associate a young and active colleague 
with himself in the government. The choice fell on L. Piso, 
whose frugal habits and austere virtues increased the unpopu- 
larity of Galba. The soldiers from whom the usual donations 
were withheld, received their new commander in gloomy silence. 
No one was more disappointed when Piso was associated in the 
government than Otho, the husband of Poppaea, who had 
entered Rome with Galba and hoped to succeed him. When he 
found his scheme interrupted, he ingratiated himself with the 
soldiers, who were in ill-humor on account of the parsimony of 
Galba, and was saluted imperator. When Galba appeared, he 
was deserted by the praetorians and killed in the forum with his 
colleague. Otho, who was accepted by the senate, adopted suit- 
able measures for the government of the city. The nobles were 
conciliated, consuls appointed, and exiles restored. The legions 
in Spain and Gaul, however, declared Vitellius emperor, while 
the legions in the East declared for Otho. Civil war seemed 
imminent between the East and the West. Two divisions of the 
army of Vitellius were already entering Italy under Valens and 
Caecina, through the passes of Mt. Genevre and the great St. 
Bernard. Otho encountered their forces at Bedriacum, near 
the confluence of the Adda and Po, but being defeated he put 
an end to his own life and Vitellius became emperor. 

1 During the reign of Nero the Britons (a. d. 61) under Boadicsea revolted, and Cortjulo 
carried on a war against the Parthians and Armenians, 



452 THE REIGK OF VITELLIUS. [A. D. 69. 

13. Vitellius (a. d. 68-69). — Vitellius was a glutton and a 
tyrant ; cowardly and vacillating. 1 He neglected every duty 
and left the management of affairs to the victors at Bedriacum. 
The contest had been waged thus far by the soldiers in the 
West. There were nine legions in the East under the com- 
mand of discreet and able leaders. T. Flavius Vespasianus the 

\ commander in Palestine, was declared imperator by his soldiers. 

^Leaving his son Titus to conduct the war against the Jews, 
Vespasian dispatched his generals, Antonius Primus and Mu- 
cianus, across the Eastern Alps into Italy. The second battle 
of Bedriacum decided the contest. The victors advanced to 
Eome, and a division of the army forced its way through the 
Oolline gate. A terrible combat followed in the streets. The 
populace looked on, applauded or hooted as in a theatre, helped 
drag the fugitives forth for slaughter, and snatched plunder 
from the dead and dying. During the melee the Capitoline 
temple was burnt. The adherents of Vitellius took refuge in 
the praetorian camp ; but this was soon stormed and taken, and 
Vitellius was put to death. 



CHAPTER X.XII. 



The Flavian Emperors: Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, 

A. D. 69-96. 

1. The Revolt in Germany and Gaul. — Vespasian had 
scarcely heard of the honors decreed to him by the senate 
when the empire was threatened with the loss of one of its 
best provinces. The army in Gaul and on the Ehine had been 
very much weakened during the late civil wars. Claudius 
Civilis seized the opportunity to excite a mutiny among the 
Gauls who served in the legions. The revolt spread through 

1 Tacitus, Hist, iii., 36, describes him admirably. 



A. D. 69-79.] THE REIGK OF YESPASIAK. 453 

Gaul, and the Druids predicted another fall of Home by 
Gallic arms. Mucianus hastened to meet the danger. The 
Gauls who had not yet joined the insurrection, held a congress 
in the territory of the Rhemi — whose capital Eheims after- 
wards became the sacred seat of the French monarchy — and 
decided on submission. Some other tribes took occasion to 
desert to the Romans. Civilis had already been compelled to 
retreat to the island of Batavi, where he defended himself 
with great skill and desperate courage ; but the obstinacy of 
the Romans conquered. Civilis saved his life by swimming 
across the Rhine. 1 When Vespasian arrived in Rome he began 
at once to restore discipline to the army, to improve the 
administration of justice, and to purify the senate. Economy 
and order were introduced, the finances restored, and luxury 
and extravagance restrained. 

2. The Colosseum and other Structures. — Vespasian 
expended large sums in public works, rebuilt the capitol, erected 
a temple of peace, a new forum, and more than all commenced 
the most stupendous work of antiquity, the Flavian amphi- 
theatre, or, as it was afterwards called, from the colossal statue 
Nero, the colosseum. 2 He patronized learned men. Under his 
reign Quintilian, the rhetorician, enjoyed the salary which 
Vespasian allowed to public teachers. The only exception to 
his clemency was the banishment of the Stoic and Cynic 
philosophers. 

3. Military Exploits. — When Vespasian was declared 
imperator, he left his son to conduct the war against the Jews. 
In b. c. 70 Jerusalem was taken, the city demolished, and the 
Jews from this time were scattered over the empire. Among N 
the prisoners taken to Rome was Joseph us, the historian of the 
war. The arch of Titus, which still stands at Rome, displays/ 
the representation of the Jewish sacred vessels that were car- 



1 Merivale says that Civilis at this time gave uo the island and fled across the Rhine. 
Tacitus (v., 19) states distinctly that he retired to the island {in insidam concessit), 
and after its capture (v. 23) fled across the Rhine. (Dederich G. d. Rom. u. d. Deutsch, p. 
122, and Meyer Der Freiheits krieg d. Betaven unter Civilis, p. 88.) 

2 It wa« intended for hunt* of wild animals (venationes) and sea-fights (naumachice). 
It seated 87,000 persons. It was erected within the site of Nero's golden house. 



454 



THE REIG:N" OF VESPASIAN. 



[A. d. 69-79. 



ried off by Titus. In Britain, Agricoia extended the limits of 
the empire to the north and compelled the wild tribes in Cale- 
donia to submit. 




The Flavian Amphitheatre in its Present Condition. (Meta sudans. 1 ) 

4. Character of Vespasian. — Vespasian's government 
was a model of moderation and economy. He was the restorer 
of the state. He shared the imperial duties with his son, who 
was acknowledged emperor without difficulty on the death of 
his father. 

5. Titus Declared Emperor (a. d. 79-81).— Titus, when 
he ascended the throne, laid aside the failings of his youth and 
ruled with so much firmness and justice, that he was called 
"the delight of mankind." The law of majestas was allowed ' 
to slumber, and the infamous trade of the delators was sus- 



1 The meta sudans was a magnificent fountain erected fry Domitian. The gladiators 
are supposed to have washed here after their contests in the ampljitheatrQ, 



A. D. 79-81.] 



THE KEIGN OF TITUS. 



455 



pended. His government was so just and equitable that no 
one was punished for political offences. 

6. Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. — During the first 
year of his reign, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place. 
The towns of Herculaneum, Pompeji, and Stabiae were over- 




The Arch of Titus. (In its present condition, 1879.) 

whelmed. The elder Pliny 1 lost his life in investigating the 
cause of the eruption. Pompeji was covered by ashes and 
sand, so that everything remained in a remarkable state of 
preservation. The city has been excavated, and the vast 
number of remains enables us to form a tolerably correct con- 
ception of the civilization and domestic life of the Romans in 
the Italian cities in the time of the empire. 

7. Death of Titus.— During his reign a great fire swept ^ 
through the city. The Colosseum 2 which had been begun by 
his predecessor was dedicated with magnificent games thati 

1 The younger Pliny gives an account of the eruption in two letter© Qgp, Yi,, 1% 20} tQ 
his friend Tacitus. 

3 This name appears first in Becle, in the 7th century, 



456 THE REIG3ST OF DOMITIAN. [A. D. 81-96. 

lasted one hundred days. 1 Titus associated no one with him 
in the government, though he often spoke of his brother as 
his destined successor. 

8. Domitian (a. d. 81-96). — Domitian, the last of the 
Flavian dynasty, was a cruel tyrant. He took delight in nothing 
but contests of wild beasts and of gladiatorial games. During 
his reign began the series of contests with the barbarian tribes 
on the Khine and the Danube frontiers, which soon shook 
the power and threatened the very existence of the empire. 
The Dacians crossed the Danube and ravaged the province of 
Moesia. Domitian's general, Julianus, prosecuted the war with 
success, yet Domitian concluded a peace, by which he promised 
to pay the Dacian king Decebalus, tribute. In Pannonia the 
enemy were also successful. Agricola, who had carried on a 
successful campaign in Britain and was in a fair way to subdue 
the whole island, was recalled because Domitian was jealous of 
his fame (a.d. 84). In order to provide shows and games for 
the people, Domitian plundered the nobles. He exacted large 

1 The following admirable description of the amphitheatre and its sports is from 
Gibbon : " The hunting, or exhibition of wild beasts, was conducted with a magnificence 
suitable to a people who styled themselves the masters of the world ; nor was the edifice 
appropriated to that entertainment less expressive of Koman greatness. Posterity admires, 
and will long admire, the awful remains of the amphitheatre of Titus, which so well de- 
served the epithet of colossal. It was a building of an elliptic figure, five hundred and 
sixty-four feet in length, and four hundred and sixty-seven in breadth, founded on four- 
score arches, and rising, with four successive orders of architecture, to the height of one 
hundred and forty feet. The outside of the edifice was encrusted with marble, and 
decorated with statues. The slopes of the vast concave which formed the inside were 
filled and surrounded with sixty or eighty rows of seats of marble, likewise covered 
with cushions, and capable of receiving with ease above fourscore thousand spectators. 
Sixty-four vomitories (for by that name the doors were very aptly distinguished) poured 
forth the immense multitude ; and the entrances, passages, and staircases, were con- 
trived with such exquisite skill, that each person, whether of the senatorial, the eques- 
trian, or the plebeian order, arrived at his destined place without trouble or confusion. 
Nothing was omitted which in any respect could be subservient to the convenience or 
pleasure of the spectators. They were protected from the sun and rain by an ample 
canopy occasionally drawn over their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the 
playing of fountains, and profusely impregnated by the grateful scent of aromatics. In 
the centre of the edifice the arena, or stage, was strewed with the finest sand, and suc- 
cessively assumed the most different forms. At one moment it seemed to rise out of 
the earth, like the garden of the Hesperides, and was afterwards broken into the rocks 
and caverns of Thrace. The subterraneous pipes conveyed an inexhaustible supply of 
water ; and what had just before appeared a level plain might be suddenly converted 
into a wide lake, covered with armed vessels and replenished with the monsters of the 
deep. In the decorations of these scenes, the Roman emperors displayed their wealth 
and liberality ; and we read on various occasions, that the whole furniture of the 
amphitheatre consisted either of silver, or of gold, or of amber. The poet who de- 
scribes the games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd attracted to the capital by 
the fame of their magnificence, affirms that the nets designed as a defence against the 
wild beasts were of gold wire ; that the porticoes were gilded, and that the belt or circle 
which divided the several ranks of the spectators from each other, was studded with a 
precious mosaic of beautiful stones," 



A. D. 81-96.] THE KEIG^ OF DOMITIAK. 45? 

gifts from the provinces. 1 A triumphal arch and a colossal 
equestrian statue were erected in the forum, in front of the 
temple of Vespasian. 2 Domitian had himself styled a god, 
and was worshipped with divine honors. Discontent prevailed 
throughout the empire. On the Khenish frontier an insurrec- 
tion broke out. It was unsuccessful ; but from this time date 
the cruelties which make the name of Domitian especially in- 
famous. A jealousy of all excellences seemed to possess him. 
The philosophers, among whom was the wise Epictetus, were 
banished. The Christians and the Jews were murdered in\ 
great numbers, and all classes were teased and irritated. The 4 ' 
grim humor with which he delighted to accompany his cruel- 
ties, aggravated them. At length his own household rose 
against him. He was assassinated, and the throne was given 
to Nerva by the senate. 

9. The Last of the "Twelve Caesars." — Domitian 3 was 
the last of the "twelve Caesars." The succeeding emperors 
assumed the title, but from the fact that Suetonius composed 
the biography of the first twelve, the name has become their 
peculiar heritage. The chief authorities for the history of the 
twelve Caesars are Tacitus and Suetonius. Much interesting 
information concerning this period is also gathered from the 
satires of Juvenal. We must not, however, attach too much 
importance to "the denunciations of these writers against former 
tyrants. Tyrannicide had long been a favorite subject with poets 
and rhetoricians, and these tirades were nothing new. Be- 
sides, the policy of Trajan, under whose reign both Tacitus and 
Juvenal wrote, encouraged abuse of his predecessors. If liberty 
was to be restored, it was necessary to show that it had been 
overthrown. Tacitus wrote as a Eoman of the old school, and 
every page shows that he was a partisan. Everywhere through- 
out the provinces, 4 the government was wise and ably adminis- 
tered. The city of Eome alone felt the weight of tyranny. 

1 Aurum coronarium. 

3 The columns of this temple (it was erected by Domitian) are still standing ; it was 
restored by Severn s. 

3 During his reign the pay of the army was increased from 225 to 300 denarii, paid in 
four instead of three yearly installments. 

4 Strabo, Philo, and Josephus speak in praise of the government. Valerius Maximus 
and Paterculus praise Tiberius. 



458 



REIGN OF NERVA. 



[a. d. 96-98. 



CHAPTER ILXIII. 



The Reigns of Nerva, of Trajan, of Hadrian, 
A. D. 96-138 — Prosperity of the Empire. 



1. Nerva (a. d. 96-98). — Nerva was remarkable for his 
'virtues and clemency. He put a stop to trials for treason, 

diminished taxes, recalled the exiles, distributed land among 
the poor, and relieved the people of Italy from the duty of 
furnishing free post-wagons and couriers. 1 In order to re- 
strain the insolence of the praetorians who had not been con- 
sulted in his election, he adopted M. TTlpius Trajanus, the 
brave commander on the Ehine frontier. The senate con- 
firmed the adoption. After a reign of only sixteen months 
Nerva died. 

2. Trajan (a. d. 98-117). — Trajan was born at Italica in 

Spain. He was the first emperor 
who was not a native of Italy. Tra- 
jan was at Cologne when he received 
the reins of government. One of 
his first acts was to assure the senate 
that no one of its members should 
suffer death during his reign. The 
tranquillity of Rome allowed him to 
remain a year on the frontier, per- 
fecting its defences. He built a 
bridge across the Ehine at Mayence, 2 
founded colonies beyond the right 
bank, and marked off the tributary 

TEAJAN - district, the agri decumates, by a 

mound and ditch from the Rhine to the Danube. On his 




1 See p. 425, note 6 ; this we learn from an inscription on a coin, vehiculatione Jtalim 
remisce, » Mogontiacum. 



A. D. 98-117.] REIGN OF TRAJAN. 459 

return to Rome, his equable measures won for him great popu- 
larity. The Romans regarded him as the best of all their) 
emperors. He was brave and magnanimous. He knew how 
to be lenient as well as strict, and to combine business with 
sociability. The Romans gave him the name of Optimus (the 
lest), and in later times the senate regarded it as the highest 
compliment to a new emperor to declare that he " was more 
fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan." 

3. War with the Dacians (a. d. 101). — When the Dacians 
demanded the tribute promised them by Domitian, Trajan 
crossed the Danube and defeated them in a terrible battle, and 
their chieftain Decebalus fell by his own sword amid the ruins 
of his capital. 1 On his return to Rome in A. D. 106 Trajan 
received the name of Dacicus, and celebrated a magnificent 
triumph that lasted one hundred and twenty-three days, in 
which ten thousand gladiators fought and eleven thousand wild 
animals were killed. In the East he carried on war against 
the Parthians, took Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and converted 
Armenia and Mesopotamia into provinces (a. r>. 117). Arabia 
Petraea also was added to the empire. 

4. His Forum and Poor Laws. — Trajan was a generous 
patron of literature. During his reign flourished the younger 
Pliny, Juvenal, and Plutarch. He extended the poor-law of 
Nerva so that five thousand children received allowances of 
corn, and made loans at 2\ to 5 per cent, to the proprietors of 
encumbered estates. He embellished Rome with public build- 
ings, temples, and a new forum, in which the five-hailed basilica 
and the magnificent column one hundred and forty-seven feet 
high, on which are engraved twenty-five thousand human 
figures, and the summit of which is adorned by his own statue, 2 
formed the noblest ornament. In this forum were also erected 
the Ulpian library and a triumphal arch. Besides these works 
he constructed a new theatre, an odeum, a gymnasium, enlarged 
the circus maximus, added to the nine aqueducts a new one, 
and on the Esquiline hill erected new baths near those of Titus. 

* germizegethusa, 3 In 1587 Sextus y. replaced the statue by one of St. Peter. 



) 



460 



THE KEIGK OF HADKIAN. [A. D. 117-138. 



Every part of the empire was adorned with magnificent build- 
ings, roads, bridges, or other useful improvements. ■ 

5. Prosperity of the Empire. — That Trajan was unwearied 
in his attentions to the details of business is attested by his 
correspondence with the younger Pliny, who was governor of 
Bithynia in A. I). 103. His management of the finances was 
remarkably good and his administration of justice was firm and 




The Forum of Trajan. (In its present condition, 1879.) 

(impartial. During his reign the empire reached the highest 
state of prosperity, and extended its limits on the east and 
f west to the furthest point it ever reached. He was succeeded 
I by his legate Hadrian. 

6. Hadrian (a. d. 117-138).— Hadrian returned to the 
policy of Augustus, and gave his attention to defending the 
boundaries of the empire rather than enlarging them. He 
voluntarily relinquished Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. 
Hadrian was a man of great ability, for he was deeply versed 
in almost every department of learning. He had the same genial 
manners as Trajan, and the same application to business. 



462 THE EEIGK OF HADRIAK. [A. D. 117-138. 

Eeturning to Eome laden with the spoils of war, he was enabled 
to win favor with all classes by his liberality. He remitted to 
the inhabitants of Italy the arrears of taxes due to the fiscus 
for sixteen years, and burnt the records of the debt in the 
forum of Trajan. In the provinces a large part of the arrears 
was also remitted. 1 

7. His Travels. — Disturbances in the East, and all along 
the frontier, compelled Hadrian to leave the capital. The Danu- 
bian frontier particularly demanded his attention. He had no 
sooner, however, quitted the city than a conspiracy was formed 
against him ; he returned and quelled it with severity. After 
some slight success against the Dacians he recrossed and broke 
down the bridge that Trajan had thrown across the Danube. 
After a short stay in Eome he visited Gaul, crossed over to Britain 
and saw the advance which had been made in wealth and 
civilization— the country was well provided with roads which 
centred in Eboracum (York), the capital, and a large inland 
and foreign trade brought wealth and prosperity. From thence 
he returned to Gaul, crossed the Mediterranean, and visited the 
distant East. From Syria he journeyed homeward through 
Asia Minor, making a long stay at Athens, the seat of the great 
university of the then civilized world. 2 

8. His Buildings. — On his return to Eome, he spent his 
time in diligent administration of the empire, and decorated the 
city with splendid buildings — among which may be mentioned 
the temple of Eoma and Venus, and the Mausoleum on the right 
bank of the Tiber, which is still a majestic ruin under the name 
of the Castle of St. Angelo. Other works were distributed over 
the empire, as the villa at Tivoli, extensive ruins of which still 
remain, the ramparts in Britain, the temple of Augustus at 
Terraco, a basilica at Nimes (JSTemausus), and costly structures 
at Alexandria. He also established a university at Eome under 

1 The amount remitted to the fiscus amounted to 900 millions sesterces, as we learn 
from inscriptions (Orelli Inscr. sel. vol. i., p. 193 ; Eckhel, p. 478). Many think that this 
act of Hadrian was sculptured on the two marble screens found in the comitium. 

2 During this journey he had an opportunity to see how intolerable the burden of 
furnishing free post-wagons and couriers had become to trie provincials; he therefore 
abolished it in the provinces as Nerva had done in Italy, and paid the expenses from his 
own purse (Jiscus). By him the postal department (cursus publicus) was regularly 
organized, 



A. D. 117-138.] THE KEIG^ OF HADEIA]N". 



463 



the name of the Athenaeum, and endowed its professors on a\ 
magnificent scale. 

9. Revolt of the Jews. — During his reign the Jews 
revolted on account of the foundation of a Roman colony under 
the name of jffilia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem and the 
erection of the shrine of Jupiter in the holy temple. The Jews/ 
fought with great desperation, but were finally subdued. Five 
hundred and eighty thousand are said to have fallen in battle, 




Mole op Hadrian Restored. 1 

while vast numbers perished by hunger, pestilence, and fire. 
The last hope of Jewish independence was gone ; the race was 
now completely dispersed. The colony of JElia Capitolina was 
then strengthened and the sacred city rebuilt ; but the Jews 
were forbidden to enter it, while to the Christians the same 
freedom was granted as to the Romans. 2 

1 This mausoleum is now the Castle of St. Angelo. 

2 See Derenbourg Essai sur Thistoire et la geographie de Palestine, p. 420 ff. For 
Meri vale's account of the cause of the insurrection, see 1. c, vol. vii., 369 ££. 



( 



464 REIG2S- OF ANT0NTKUS PIUS. [A. D. 138-161. 

10. His Inquiring Spirit. — The persecution of the Chris- 
tians was discouraged. In all parts of his empire Hadrian 
showed himself a seeker of the truth; Judaism, Christianity, 
the fantastic theosophy of the Gnostics, and the doctrines 
of the Alexandrian schools, all claimed his attention, and 
into the investigation of all he threw himself with ardor and 
vehemence. 

11. Hadrian, Emperor of the Roman World. — Of 
Hadrian it may be said that he was the first emperor who 
understood his position as master of the world. All through- 
out the vast empire conquerors and conquered were recognized 
as one people, while their equalization was left to the gradual 
influences that were at work to bring it about. Hadrian asso- 
ciated Commodus Verus in the labors of administration, and 
adopted him as his successor. He died soon after, and then 
Hadrian nominated M. Aurelius Antoninus as his successor, at 
the same time compelling him to adopt two heirs, L. Verus, the 
son of his late colleague, and Annius Verus, his own Aster's son. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 



The Age of the Antontnes — Continued Prosperity of 
the Empire, A. D. 138-180. 

1. Antoninus Pius (a. d. 138-161).— Aurelius Anto- 
ninus, commonly called Antoninus Pius, a title bestowed upon 
him by the senate, was in simplicity of character and devotion 
to business one of the best of rulers. He associated Marcus 
Aurelius with himself in the government, and for twenty- 
three years they ruled together, vying with each other in noble 
qualities and in the excellence of their administration. Anto- 
ninus avoided war that he might promote the arts of peace. 
During his long reign he never left Italy. The empire remained 
in a state of peace and general contentment. He watched 



A. D. 138-161.] REIGK OF ANTOKINUk PIUS. 



465 



with vigilance over the frontiers, and in some quarters, as in 
Britain, Dacia, Mauretania, and Egypt, troubles occurred to 
occupy his legates, but no war of any 
magnitude. His reign has been pro- 
nounced happy because it was barren 
of events. In the internal administra- 
tion Antoninus made no changes. He 
continued a liberal policy toward the 
senate ; he founded schools, 1 repaired 
roads and harbors, 2 and encouraged 
trade. The persecution of the Chris- 
tians was checked, and to him Justin 
Martyr addressed his apology for Chris- 
tianity. Antoninus died at Lorium in 
the seventy-fifth year of his age. His 
last thoughts were devoted to the wel- 
fare of the republic, and the last watchword he gave to the soldiers 
was cequanimitas, which means not alone equanimity, but also 




Antoninus Pius. 




Aqueduct of the Pont du Gaud, at Notes. 



7 The alimentation of poor children was extended by founding a charity school for 
girls, which he named after his wife Faustina, to whom he also dedicated the magnifi- 
cent temple situated at the corner of the forum where the via sacra enters. 

2 The city of Nimes. from which his ancestors came to Rome, owed to him the 
amphitheatre and aqueduct which are the finest ruins of Roman architecture out of Italy. 



466 



IfcEIGK OF iiARCTJS AURELIUS. [a. D. 161-180. 




purity, serenity, and contentment of mind. In this one word 
was embodied the whole character of his ]ife. 

2. Marcus Aurelius (a. d. 161-180).— This prince was 
surnamed the philosopher, for he modeled his life upon the 
precepts of the Stoic philosophy. 
He devoted himself to the cares 
of his office with patient atten- 
tion, but his mind was always 
with his chosen studies, with 
the sophists and the rhetori- 
cians. Fronto informs us that 
he was accounted the best ora- 
tor of his age. 

3. Activity of the Bar- 
barians. — On the frontiers the 
barbarian forces, pressed by 
other tribes in their rear and 
cramped in their ancient homes, 
became more and more men- 
acing. The time was coming when the pale student of the 
Palatine must pass his days in the saddle and his nights under 
canvas in the wdldest frontiers of the empire. 1 First, in the 
eastern provinces, the Parthian king broke the peace and in- 
vaded Armenia (a. d. 161). Aurelius' legates defeated him in 
battle, invaded Mesopotamia, destroyed Seleucia, and pene- 
trated to Babylon. The Parthian king purchased peace by 
ceding Mesopotamia to Eome. In the meanwhile, at home, 
Aurelius conducted the government with deference to the 
senate, and chose the ablest men for his ministers and prefects. 
He shared the government with Verus, and for the first time 
in the history of the empire there were two Augusti. 

4. The Plague. — The Syrian legions brought back the 
plague, which extended along the line of their march through 
several provinces, and so devastated Italy that whole towns with 
their villas and lands were left without inhabitants or cultivators, 



Marcus Aurelius. 



1 Merivale. 



A. D. 161-180.] R-EIGH OF MARCUS ATTRELItJS. 467 

and fell to ruin or relapsed into wildernesses. The efforts to 
overcome the disease were directed by the celebrated physician 
Galen. The cause of the pestilence was charged upon the 
Christians, and the emperor permitted two cruel persecutions 
in which Justin Martyr died at Eome and Poly carp at Smyrna. 

5. The Frontier.— The dangers from the barbarians grew 
more menacing on the frontiers. Aurelius put himself at the 
head of the legions, and during the space of fourteen years * he 
was occupied almost unceasingly in checking the advance of the 
invaders. During the rest of his life he was engaged on the Dan- 
ubian frontier in contests with the Marcomanni, the Sarmatian, 
the Scythian, and the German tribes. But little is known of the 
details of these campaigns. The emperor died at Vindobona 
(Vienna) during a campaign, in the fifty-ninth year of his 
age. 

6. He Founds an Orphan School. — During the inter- 
vals in the numerous campaigns, Aurelius found time to enlarge 
the charities of his predecessors. He founded an institution 
for orphan girls, and in B. c. 176 remitted the debts and arrears 
of taxes due from Italy for a term of forty-six years, and 
ordered the papers of claims to be burnt in the forum. 2 The 
equestrian statue which the senate decreed to Marcus Aurelius 
still stands on the platform of the Capidoglio. 3 

7. The Climax of the Empire. — Aurelius was the last of 
the princes styled the five good emperors. From his time the 
glory and prosperity of the Eoman people declined rapidly. Au- 
relius united in himself the different talents of a man of learn- 
ing — a fine writer, a skillful soldier, and a judicious ruler. His 
"Meditations" have made him known to posterity. They are 
a record of his thoughts and feelings rather than a formal 
treatise on ethical philosophy, and form one of the most delight- 
ful productions of the human mind. 

1 From a. D. 167 to 180. 

2 To this act some suppose the sculptured figures on the marble slabs in the fornm 
refer : that they led up to the statue of that emperor. 

3 This was erected in the forum near the arch of S. Severus ; in 1187 it was trans- 
ferred to the Lateran, and in 1538 to this piazza. In the piazza Colonna stands the 
column of M. Aurelius, inscribed, like Trajan's, with reliefs from the wars against the 
Marcomanni. Four reliefs from the arch of Aurelius are in the Conservatore palace. 



> 



468 INTERNAL- CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 



chapter lxv. 

Internal Condition of the Empire. — Symptoms of 
Decline. 

1. The Barbarians. — Under the reign of the Antonines, 
the empire presented externally a high degree of prosperity. 
Prom the death of Domitian to that of Marcus Aurelius, the 
government throughout the vast extent of the empire was 
administered with honesty and wisdom. The armies were re- 
strained and the forms of civil administration carefully pre- 
served. The boundaries of the empire had been maintained on 
the North, while on the East the dividing line between the 
Eoman world and the barbarians had been advanced from the 
Euphrates to the Tigris. The symptoms of decline, although 
hardly visible to common observation, had deeply impressed 
Aurelius and had awakened his anxiety and apprehension 
for the future. The attacks of the barbarians on the fron- 
tiers, which had hitherto been local and desultory, now be- 
came frequent. The emperor was compelled to carry on war 
on the Ehine, the Danube, and the shores of the Euxine at the 
same time. The barbarian tribes seemed to be impelled by new 
impulses. The unity of the empire imparted a germ of union 
to its assailants. They presented themselves on every frontier 
stronger in arms and tactics as well as in numbers. It was evi- 
dent that the resources of the empire were reduced. In the 
reign of Aurelius the invasion of the Marcomanni was repulsed 
with great difficulty. It excited a deep alarm and foreboding 
throughout the empire. 

2. Causes of Decline. — The brilliancy of the city and of 
the great provincial capitals, the magnificence of the games and 
of the entertainments, still remained undimmed. 'As yet no 
distinct murmurs of poverty or distress were heard among the 



INTERNAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 469 



populace, and it is scarcely possible that during these long years 
of peace and uniform good government that any but the wisest 
could detect signs of decay or dissolution. Still, causes were 
at work that reduced the people to pauperism, crushed out the 
military spirit, extinguished the fire of genius, and spread 
decay and desolation throughout the wide extent of the empire. 
These causes, moralists 1 say, were the disappearance of the pre- 
cious metals in the East in exchange for silks, carpets and orna- 
ments, and for whatever else in dress, for the table, or the embel- 
lishment of their houses pleased the fancies of the Eomans or 
gratified their tastes, which, under the odious name of luxury, 
were silently weakening the foundations of the government 
and sapping the subjects of their vigor and military spirit. 

3. Luxury and Wealth. — The idea of luxury must al- 
ways be a relative one. The standard varies in different 
countries and different ages. Many of the luxuries of Europe 
are daily fare in Asia, while articles of every day use with us 
are unknown in the East. Those articles which in one age in- 
dicate wealth become in the next common property. In fact 
every person, every people, and every generation declare those 
articles to be luxuries which they can dispense with. 2 It is 
true that, during the period from the battle of Actium to the 
death of Hadrian, vast fortunes were ^accumulated, and the 
ministers of luxury and pomp multiplied possibly beyond the 
conception of modern ideas. Still the amount of property 
held by a single individual was probably not larger than that 
in modern times, and the luxury and magnificence were con- 
fined to the great, to the few, and must not be taken as the 
groundwork of calculation for Italy and the Eoman world. The 
agricultural laborer, the artisan in the provinces, maintained 
himself as at the present day, by his own labor and that of his 
household, with few, or according to Zumpt, without possessing 
a single slave. 3 The stories that Suetonius has related of the 

1 Merivale, vol. vii., p. 479. 2 Roscher, p. 408. 

3 A freedman in the time of Augustus, though he had suffered great losses in the 
civil wars, left 3600 yoke of oxen, 250.000 head of small cattle, and 4116 slaves (Plin. Hist. 
Nat., 1., 33, 47. The Eussian family Scheremetjew, before the abolition of serfdom, had 
200,000 serfs who were themselves in possession of many millions of property. 



470 IOTERKAL CONDITION OF THE, EMPIRE. 

yast extravagance of Caligula — that he squandered the income 
of three provinces 1 in a single banquet — of Nero and of 
Vitellius, 2 are exceptional ; the other emperors for many cen- 
turies were frugal and often parsimonious. The richest man 
throughout the Koman world had only about four hundred 
million sesterces, 3 and only two 4 are mentioned as possessing 
this sum. The largest income of the richest Eoman family was 
about one million dollars. 5 

4. The Standard of Luxury. — It must also be remem- 
bered that the Eoman writers, as Pliny, Varro, and Seneca, to 
whom we are indebted for most of our information, looked to 
the past as the golden age, and condemned every change, every 
new convenience, every refinement of life, as dangerous inno- 
vations. Varro condemns the importation 6 of food, the use of 
vessels as mediums of transporting the products of other 
lands, and Pliny finds in the artificial growth of asparagus and 
the use of ice the evidence of the most unbounded extrava- 
gance. 7 .It is the opinion of Friedlander, 8 that the luxury of 
the table in ancient Eome did not exceed that of the wealthy 

1 Ten million sesterces. 

2 He was chiefly addicted to the vices of luxury and cruelty. He made generally three 
meals a day, sometimes four ; breakfast, dinner and supper, and a drunken revel after 
all. This amount of victuals he could well enough bear from a custom to which he had 
enured himself, of frequently vomiting. For these several meals he would make differ- 
ent appointments at the houses-of his friends on the same day. None ever entertained 
him at a less expense than 400,000 sesterces ($20,000). The most famous was a set enter- 
tainment given him by his brother, at which, it is said, there were served up no less than 
two thousand choice fishes, and seven thousand birds. Yet even this feast he himself 
outdid at a feast which he gave upon the first use of a dish which had been made for 
him, and which for its extraordinary size, he called "the shield of Minerva." In this 
dish there were tossed up together the livers of char-fish, the brains of pheasants and 
peacocks with tongues of flamingoes and the entrails of lampreys (Suet. Vitell., 13). 
During the whole time of the empire he found only one imitator, Ealas:abalus. 

3 : About $20,000,000. Voltaire estimated Mazarin's property at 200.000.000 francs. 
Baron J. Rothschild's (died in 1868) property was estimated at 2000 million francs ; John 
J. Astor was worth 25 to 30 million dollars, and A. T. Stewart left at least 60 millions, 
and Vanderbilt 80 millions. The value of gold in the time of the Roman empire was at 
least twice, possibly five times as much as it is now. 

4 Cn. Lentulus and Narcissus, Nero's freedman. 3 $1,218,000. 

e There is no reason to believe that the importation of food from A^ia and Africa 
into Europe to-day is easier or less costlv than into Rome in the time of the empire. 
Thucydides regarded it as one of the greatest advantages of Athens that the products of 
all lands found a market there. Varro's view would find but little approval to-dav in 
Germany, where a person in the middle ranks of life has for breakfast, coffee from 
East India, tea from China, sugar from the West Indies, cheese from England, wine 
from Spain, caviare from Russia, without any being regarded as luxuries.— Bosch., p. 428. 

7 The mantle woven from gold which the empress Agrippina wore, Pliny, Diod. and 
Tacitus mention as something marvellous and unexampled. Charles the "Bold, at the 
battle of Grandson, had 400 chests filled with clothing wrought with gold and silver, and 
100 coats for himself woven with gold. 

8 Sittengeschichte Roms., p. 30. 



INTEKNAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 471 

in the great cities of Europe in the eighteenth century, nor 
equal that of the nineteenth. The luxury that prevailed in 
dress, ornaments, furniture, and buildings, certainly did not 
exceed, probably did not equal, that of modern times. 

5. Prosperity of the Empire. — The importation of articles 
of luxury such as silks, 1 carpets and ornaments, estimated at 
one hundred million sesterces yearly, was certainly very small 2 
in comparison with that of modern times. This expenditure 
was very far from exhausting the wealth of the Koman world, 
and Pliny 3 aptly depicts the tranquil and prosperous state of 
the empire. " The provincials as well as the Romans," says he, 
"acknowledged that the true principles of social life, laws, 
agriculture and science, which had first been invented by the 
wisdom of Athens, were now firmly established by the power 
of Rome, under whose auspicious influence the fiercest barba- 
rians were united by an equitable government and common 
language. They affirmed, that with the improvement of arts, 
the human species was visibly multiplied. They celebrated the 
increasing splendor of the cities, the beautiful face of the 
country, cultivated and adorned like an immense garden ; and 
the long festival of peace which was enjoyed by so many 
nations, forgetful of their ancient animosities, and delivered 
from the apprehension of future danger." 4 

6. Causes of Decline. — To what then shall we attribute 
the rapid decline of the empire ? First Ave must consider 
that the Romans had not gained their enormous wealth by 
legitimate labor, 5 by manufactures and commerce, but by war. 
When they lost the power to conquer, they could not acquire 
the habits of industry and accumulation. When, therefore, 
the limits of conquest had been reached, inactivity set in. 

1 Silks from the East were worth their weight in gold. 

- Merivale assigns as one cause of decline, the disappearance of the precious metals 
in the East in exchange for luxuries. According to recent estimates (1870) 122| million 
pounds sterling were exported from 1861-69 to Asia, or twelve times as much as in the 
time of Pliny (£13;-; million yearly) ; in the time of Pliny, the proportion between gold 
and silver was 1 to 10 ; in the time of Constantine, 1 to 14^ ; these figures show that the 
imports from the East were far from exhausting the supply of silver ; that the produce 
of the mines supplied the demand. 

3 Nat. Hist, iii., 5. 4 Gibbon, vol. i., p. 70. 

5 A thousand dollars spent in luxury will pay nearly a thousand dollars of wages. A 
thousand dollars employed as capital will, in ten years, pay twenty thousand dollars of 
wages. 



472 IKTEEKAL COKDITIOK OF THE EMPIKE. 

The Romans lived on their accumulations. The proletarians 
were supported in the capital in idleness, a form of luxury 
that is the most costly of all indulgences, for it corrupts all 
manners, perverts all offices of nature, wastes all the powers of 
labor, and has its complete result in poverty, ignorance and 
political servitude. 1 Although money was diffused throughout 
the empire in exchange for luxuries, yet this had no elevating 
effect on the condition of the people. The gap between the rich 
and poor was too great. The few were very rich, and the many 
poor. The latter instead of being encouraged, were depressed. 
There were no influences 2 to elevate the masses. The grades of 
society became fixed, and no one could hope to cross the barrier. 

7. Extent to which Idleness can be Carried.— Gib- 
bon estimates that no state can, withotit soon becoming ex- 
hausted, support more than about one-twentieth of its able- 
bodied male population in idleness. The proportion at Rome 
was much larger, and when the period of conquest ceased, and 
the amount of wealth expended in enjoyment exceeded the 
limit of production, the standard of industrial property fell, 
the laboring classes were oppressed, commerce and agriculture 
declined, poverty spread throughout the empire, and the un- 
willingness to multiply became stronger and stronger. 3 

8. The Decrease in Population. — The decrease in the 
population had been noticed even in the time of the republic, 
and Polybius says, Rome could no longer place such armies in 
the field as she had raised in the Second Punic war. In the 
time of the Gracchi unfavorable legislation had caused the 
number of small farmers 4 to decrease to such an extent as to 
awaken the anxiety of the best men in the state, and Caesar 
and his successors struggled earnestly to remedy this evil. 
Livy speaks with wonder of the armies that had fought in 
former times in Latium, where now only a few slaves tilled the 
land that had once been the homes of so many hardy warriors. 
In the time of Hadrian there was possibly some slight gain in 
the population ; yet, with this exception, the returns of the 

1 Walker, The Science of Wealth, p. 397. 2 See p. 427. 

3 Roscher, p. 318 ft. * See p. 210. 



INTERNAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 473 

census show no steady increase in the number of citizens from 
the second Punic war to the death of Marcus Aurelius, that 
cannot be accounted for by the extension of the franchise. 1 
This decrease in the population, combined with the disinclina- 
tion to military service, rendered it impossible to keep a native 
army on foot. Augustus found it difficult to fill up the void 
caused by the defeat of Varus. During the reign of Augustus 
several laws were passed encouraging marriage, and in b. c. 18, 
the senate decreed that marriage should be imperative on 
citizens of suitable age. These efforts, however, produced no 
lasting effect, 2 for, as Plutarch tells us, people married not 
to have heirs, but to become heirs, since they could only receive 
legacies in case they married. The decrease in population | 
continued through the succeeding generations. 

9. The Cause of the Decrease in Population. — 
Eoman civilization, instead of being industrial and favorable 
to the growth of population, was military, and therefore de- 
structive. 3 The Punic wars and the long wars in the East 
gave a serious check to the increase of population. But be- 
fore Italy could recover from these losses, the Social 4 and 
Civil wars followed, and the drain of life became almost con- 
stant for nearly two centuries. Still, Italy might have recov- 
ered had not other and even more deleterious influences come 
into play. The importation of grain, which was sold in the 
markets in Kome below the cost of production in Italy, caused 
even farming on a large scale to be abandoned, and the conversion 
of the land into pasturage. The veterans who had been settled in 
colonies soon became tired of work, sold their little farms and 
returned to swell the impoverished crowd in the capital that 
lived on the pittance doled out to them by the state. The result 



1 The population of the city, estimated in the time of Augustus at about 1~ to H mil- 
lions, had dwindled in the time of Diocletian to one-half that. The number of citizens, 
provincials and slaves throughout the empire, cannot be determined with any certainty. 
It has been estimated to have been in the time of Claudius 120 millions, a total that 
nearly equals half of that of modern Europe (estimated at 312,398,430 in Behm and Wag- 
ner's Bevolkerung. der Erde) ; this estimate is ba^ed on the assumption that the number 
of citizens (in the time of Claudius about 20,000,000) was half as many as the provincials, 
and that the slaves equalled the free inhabitants. 

2 Tacitus, Ann. iii., 25, and Pliny, Ep. iv., 15. 3 See Eoscher, p. 281. 
* Nearly 500,000 perished in the Social war. 



c 



474 IKTEBNAL CONDITIONS' OF THE EMPIRE. 

was that the rural districts had become almost a desert ten- 
anted by a few wild herdmen and gangs of slaves, while the 
free population that had once tilled the soil, wasted away under 
the vice and the profligacy of the capital. Infanticide and expo- 
sition of the newly born children which Polybius had specified as 
one of the causes of the decline of population in Greece, became 
fearfully prevalent at Rome. Ovid/ Seneca, 2 Plutarch, 3 and 
Quintilian, 4 tell us that the exposition of children as well as the 
destruction of the unborn was practiced at Rome on a gigantic 
scale, and although laws were passed to encourage the charitable 
to rear foundlings, still infanticide was the crying vice of the 
empire and one of the chief causes of the terrible depopulation 
of Italy. 

10. Lack of Industrial Enterprise. — To these consid- 
erations must be added the lack of all industrial enterprise 
among the Romans. They considered all labor as degrading, 
and were satisfied to live in the capital in idleness supported 
by the bounty of the state. They had no mechanical nor in- 
ventive genius ; the practical proficiency which they seem to 
have attained in mechanics and engineering was almost wholly 
due to Grecian architects aided by foreign labor. The trades 
were handed over to slaves and freedmen, the prosperous 
middle class had disappeared, ivhile the populace, conciliated 
by gladiatorial games and the distribution of corn, sank lower 
and lower, until they became the brutal, sensual mob, which 
Juvenal and Tacitus paint in the most hideous colors. In the 
age of the Antonines, this populace had become a motley mul- 
titude without opinions or purposes, over which a lethargy, a 
torpor was creeping that numbed every noble instinct. Their 
only thought was to live on the public rations, to spend their 
days in idleness, in the circus and in crime. The higher classes 
had outlived all their high ideals, and could put forth no effort 
to awaken the masses from their slumber, nor to induce them to 
shake off their inactivity. 



1 Ovid, De Nnc, 22. a Seneca, Ad. Helv., xyi, 

3 De Amor, Prolix, * Peel., cccvi, 



IKTEKKAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 475 

11. Influence of Civilization on the Barbarians. — 

Even the barbarians admitted within the empire, lost their 
ancient vigor. The sudden change from a life of rude and 
violent adventure for the Roman baths and schools of rhetoric, 
caused an unnatural lethargy. The abrupt introduction to a 
highly civilized and luxurious life, was too much for them. 

12. Superstitious Observances. — A society in such 
a critical condition could bear no sudden shock. In A. D. 
166 the plague broke out, and famines, earthquakes and con- 
flagrations fell in rapid succession upon the capital and the 
provinces. The vital powers of the empire possessed no elas- 
ticity. Every blow seeemed to tell upon it with increasing 
strength. To repel the barbarians on the frontier, the legions 
were recruited with strangers, slaves, and the refuse of the 
streets. Other barbarians were admitted and settled within 
the borders of the empire, that the first blow might fall on 
them, and possibly be repelled. In these disasters the people 
devoted themselves anew to superstitious worship, and raised 
shrines to every deity whose power they thought could avert 
the coming evils. * The prevailing schools of philosophy all 
arrived at the same result — stoical indifference to actual life 
and a future stafce, a profound resignation to the gloomy fate 
that weighed down the world. Eeligious belief, except in the 
lowest forms of superstition, was absolutely dead. The ancient 
gods had lost their hold on the people, and no new objects of 
worship had taken their place. 

13. Christianity. — "In the midst of this darkness, a still 
small voice was heard out of the East, ' Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest ;-' and 
after a while the same voice was heard, saying, ' God so loved 
the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life ;' and, again, a Roman citizen of Tarsus cried, ' This is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners/ There was rest 
then for the weary and heavy-laden ; there was a God, too, and 
life everlasting, for those who believed in Him and His Son, 



476 INTEKKAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE. 

who had come into the world to save sinners ; and so the new 
doctrine came to Kome. In that sluggish mass the leaven was 
hid that was to throw the whole world into ferment; into that 
dark soil, in which so much that was precious had been interred, 
a grain of seed was cast that was to grow into a stately tree 
overshadowing the earth. The doctrine spread at first, as we 
may readily suppose, among slaves, whose weary lot was con- 
soled with the thought that the Founder of their creed had 
expired on the bitter cross reserved for them ; then gradually 
among other classes, but especially the Asiatic Greeks and other 
foreigners, with which Kome was full, until, after much perse- 
cution and many relapses, it reached the highest class of all, 
and Christianity became the religion of the land." 

14. Equalizing Influences. — We have already from time 
to time noticed the policy of the empire to conciliate foreign 
nationalities. Its aim was to preserve and amalgamate the 
varied communities with their different languages, customs, 
and religious creeds. Caesar had commenced the policy which 
the empire completed, and universal toleration was accorded to 
the customs, religions, and municipal freedom of the provin- 
cials. The right of citizenship was extended to the whole 
empire. The tendency was to efface distinctions and to weld 
the varied and diverse elements into one harmonious whole. 

15. The National Religion. — The liberty, however, ac- 
corded to the foreign forms of worship did not relieve the 
Eoman from the obligation of attending to his own. It was 
the national deities under whose protection the empire had 
attained its prosperity. The neglect of this worship would 
bring adversity and the final ruin to the state. Thus far all 
had joined in the popular worship. This duty — that every 
man in his devotions should conform to the customs of his 
country — every philosopher from Cicero to Epictetus had en- 
joined. 

16. The Persecution of the Christians. — Under the 
empire the custom of deifying the emperors was introduced. 
This practice originated in the belief that the soul or manes 
of the departed ancestors became deities ; and as it was a com- 



INTERNAL CONDITION" OP THE EMPIRE. 477 

mon practice for children to worship the manes of their fathers, 
so it was natural for the nation to pay divine honors to the 
emperor, who was regarded as the parent of the country. The 
statue of Augustus had been set up in the provinces for wor- 
ship, and the figure of his genius had been placed in the 
chapels at Rome beside those of the Lares. Tiberius had de- 
prived Cyzicus of its freedom because it had neglected the 
worship due him. Caligula accepted his divinity as a fact.y 
He ordered images of the gods, and particularly of Jupiter, to 
be brought from Greece in order that he might substitute his 
own head for that of the god. 2 The result was that the empe- 
rors were invested with a sacred character, and distant peoples 
saw in their apotheosis and the vote of the senate conferring 
divine honors under the title of " Divus," 3 only a fitting climax 
to their greatness and that of the empire. 

17. The Cause of Persecution. — The custom of burn- 
ing incense before the emperor's statues became a test of 
loyalty. In this act of adoration as well as in the national 
worship, the Christians not only refused to join, but actually 
denounced them. The people regarded every calamity as a 
visitation of divine anger, and sought with scrupulous care to 
ascertain the cause. It is no wonder that the people attributed 
their calamities to the anger of the gods whose worship had 
been neglected. Under the republic, in moments of despair, 
a Gaul or a Greek had been buried alive in the comitium. In 
the age of Aurelius, victims were sought among those not of a 
foreign nation, but of a hostile faith. Aurelius regarded the 
crime of the Christians, 4 the crime of refusing to worship the 
gods, not as an outbreak of turbulence and disobedience, as had 
been the case under Nero, but as an insult to the majesty of 
the national divinities and the national worship. Under the 
protection of these divinities, the empire had flourished, and 
now, in the crisis of its fortune, was not the time to test their 

1 Seneca relates that Caligula started up once from his seat when a thunder-storm had 
interrupted the gladiatorial games, and with fearful imprecations against heaven, de- 
clared that this divided empire was intolerable, that either Jupiter or himself must 
speedily succumb. — Lucky, Hist. Europ. Mor., vol. i., p. 275. 2 Suet., xxii. 

3 It must be remembered that divus means not alone divine but deified, 

4 Seeley, Rom. Imperialism, 



478 



THE PERIOD OP TRANSITION. [ A. D. 180-284. 



value by a wanton defiance. The firmness of the Christians 
the emperor looked upon as strange and unnatural, and he 
could not excuse them from not joining in a service which he 
regarded as innocent and decorous. 1 

18. Infidelity— We talk of unbelief and despair; but 
what atheism or despair can equal the set gray monotony of 
despair that was spreading over the Roman world ! The peo- 
ple could not even curse God and die, for they had no gods to 
curse. The world was sick at heart, and the words that Tacitus 
puts into the mouth of Tiberius found an echo throughout the 
Eoman world. 2 For their hearts were scarred and seamed with 
evil thoughts, savagery, and lust. The principles of decay 
were at work. The brilliant administration of the Antonines 
only delayed the threatened dissolution. In the age that fol- 
lowed the contrast was sharp and decisive. 



♦«■ ♦ > •♦ 



CHAPTER LXVI. 

The Period of Transition, A. D. 180-284. 

1. Character of the Government. — The imperial gov- 
ernment had two distinct periods. During the first, which 
ended with the death of Aurelius, the government was mainly 
administered wisely and beneficently. Peace reigned through- 
out the empire. All classes were secure, for the wise administra- 
tion of the Antonines guaranteed law and order. The second 
period began with the accession of Diocletian. The period 
that intervened, that is, from A. d. 180-284, was a revolutionary 
age — an age of transition. It presents some of the worst tyran- 
nies, some of the bloodiest revolutions, and some of the most 
enormous calamities known in history. The plague reappeared. 
The half-barbaric soldiery became mutinous and finally om- 
nipotent. When the government emerged from the fiery 

* Merivale, vol, yii,, p, , 9 Tact. An, 



A. D. 180-284.] THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 479 

ordeal, it had introduced reforms that enabled it to exist for 
many centuries. 

2. Commodus (a. d. 180-192). — Aurelius was succeeded 
by his un worthy son Commodus, the last of the Antonines. 
His skillful generals postponed the fatal day on the frontiers, 
and Commodus might have passed his life in debauchery, had 
not a plot against his life aroused him from his lethargy. It was 
frustrated. The assassin rushed upon the emperor and cried, 
"The senate sends you this." The assassin was seized by the 
guards; but these words aroused all the rage of Commodus 
against the hated order. The delators sprang up again. The 
ranks of the senate were thinned. In a. d. 189 a pestilence 
appeared followed by a famine. Commodus gave no heed to 
the administration. He took delight only in gladiatorial com-' 
bats. Justice was bought and sold. The "Boinan Hercules," 
as he was called, fought as a gladiator more than seven hun- 
dred times. Armed with the sword and mail of a secutor 1 
he fought against antagonists whose only weapons were of lead 
or tin. 2 He was finally assassinated by his mistress, and his 
memory was declared infamous by the senate. 

3. Pertinax (a. d. 193). — Commodus was succeeded by 
Pertinax, but he only had time to banish the delators and to 
promise to conduct the administration on principles of justice 
and economy, when he was murdered by the praetorians. The 
prsetorians sold the crown to the highest bidder. It was pur- 
chased by a wealthy senator, Didius Julianus, for 2500 sesterces 
(about $1000) to each soldier, amounting to 300 million ses- 
terces for the whole praetorian guard of 12,000. Each of the 
armies on the Euphrates, on the Danubian and the Ehenish 
frontiers, rose in revolt when they heard of this, and nomi- 
nated their own candidates. Septimius Severus, who com- 
manded on the Danubian frontier, was the fortunate one. He 
acted with energy. The senate confirmed his title. 

1 The Secutor (pursuer) contended with the Betarius {Wet-bearer). The Secutor pur- 
sued the Retarius, who fled until an opportunity occurred to throw his net over his 
opponent and then dispatch him ; see p. 410 and note. 

- He received from the common fund of gladiators a stipend so enormous (about? 
$40,000) that it became an exorbitant tax on the Roman people, 



480 



THE PEKIOD OF TRAKSITIO^. [A. D. 180-284 



4. Septimius Severus 1 (a. d. 193-211). — Septimius Sev- 
erus was an able soldier. He restrained the insolence of the 
praetorians with inexorable severity. The praetorians were dis- 
armed and disbanded and their place supplied by 50,000 legion- 
aries, which acted as the emperor's body-guard. The com- 
mander of this new force ranked next to the emperor, and 
to him was intrusted not only the command of the guards, 
but legislative and judicial powers, as well as the control of 
the finances. The senate was deprived of all power. The em- 
peror carried on a campaign against the Parthian s, took Ctesi- 
phon, and received the submission of the kings of Mesopotamia 
and Arabia. The magnificent triumphal arch erected (in a. d. 
203) to commemorate these victories still stands at the head 
of the forum. Severus died at Eboracum ( York) in preparing 
for a campaign against the Caledonians, who had made incur- 
sions into Britain. 

5. Caracalla and Elagabalus (a. d. 211-222). — Severus 
left the empire to his two sons Geta and Caracalla (211-217). 
Caracalla killed his brother and then put to death Papinian, the 
great jurist, for refusing to justify the fratricide. The franchise 
was bestowed (in a. d. 212) upon all free-born inhabitants in the 
empire in order to increase the revenue from the five per cent, 
tax which Augustus had imposed on Eoman citizens who re- 
ceived inheritances or made sales of merchandise. Caracalla 

1 GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 

Bassianus. 



Julia Domna Augusta, second wife of 
L. Septimius Severus Augustus. 



Julia Mjesa Augusta, wife of 
Julius Avitus. 



M. AufvElius Anto- 
ninus Augustus, 
commonly called 
Caracalla. 



L. Septimius 
Geta Augustus. 



Julia Scemius 

Augusta, wife of 

Sex. Varius Mar- 

CELLUS. 



Julia M able a 

Augusta, wife of 

Gessius Marcianus. 



M. Aurelius Anto- 
ninus Augustus, 
commonly called 
Elagabalus. 



M. Aurelius Seve- 
rus Alexander 
Augustus. 



A. D. 180-284.] THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 



481 



was murdered by his own soldiers at the instigation of Macri r /tui\ 
(217-218), who succeeded to the throne. After a reign of four?/ 
teen months, he was defeated in battle by Elagabalus (218-222) 
the sun-priest, who was a true oriental, and appeared in the 
streets in the oriental costume, painted and bedizened. During 
this period all literature disappeared, and it is only from notices 
of foreigners that any glimpse is given of the life in the capital. 
6. Alexander Severus (a. d. 222-238). — Elagabalus was 
succeeded by Alexander Severus, who was an emperor of a very 

different type. He had 
been carefully educated, 
and he strove as far as 
possible to restore the 
declining state. He re- 
established the council 
of state, and endeavored 
to elevate the senate in 
public esteem. 1 His 
efforts, however, were 
unavailing. The mili- 
tary power had become 
predominant, and it re- 
quired a great man to 
quell it. The praeto- 
rians put Ulpian, the 
great jurist, to death, and Dio Cassius, the historian, only 
escaped the same fate by going into exile. The emperor fell 
in a mutiny instigated by Maximin, a Thracian peasant, a man 
of gigantic stature, who had won the favor of Severus. The 
degradation of Eome was now complete. Its chief was an 
illiterate barbarian. He was followed by Gordian (a. d. 238- 
244), who was murdered by the soldiers ; by Phillip (244-249), 
w T ho celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Rome by mag- 
nificent games ; and by Decius (249-351), who persecuted the) 
Christians, and was slain in a war with the Goths. 




ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 



1 During his reign the magnificent baths (thermce Antoniniance) begun by Caracalla in 
212 were completed. See p. 408. 



482 THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. [A.D. 180-284. 

7. The Age of the Thirty Tyrants (a. d. 251-268).—. 
After the death of Deems, the generals in different provinces 
were declared emperors, 1 and such confusion prevailed in every 
quarter, that this period is called the age of the thirty tyrants. 
The barbarians renewed their attacks with irresistible force, 
Every part of the frontier was threatened at once. The em- 
pire seemed on the point of dissolution. Still, under more able 
and vigorous generals it rallied once more; its power was re- 
covered, its limits suffered no diminution; its weakness, how- 
ever, was fully known to its enemies as well as to its subjects. 2 

8. Five Good Emperors (a. d. 268-284). —Under 
Claudius (a. d. 268-270), Aurelian (a. d. 270-275), Tacitus 
(a. d. 275-6), Probus (a. d. 276-282), and Cams (a. d. 282-283), 
five able emperors, the fragments into which the empire had 
begun to split were reunited. The security of the frontier 
was re-established. Claudius routed the Alemanni in North- 
ern. Italy and gained a great victory over the Goths at ISTaissus 
in Moesia. Aurelian defeated the Goths in Pannonia, drove the 
Alemanni out of Italy, and in order to protect the city in case 
of future invasions, surrounded it by a wall of about thirteen 
miles in length. This wall, although many times restored since 
then, still stands for the most part on the line which Aurelian 
traced for it. He founded " the city of Aurelian" 3 on the site 

\of Genabum, relinquished Dacia to the Goths and the Vandals, 
and removed the Roman settlers across the river into Moesia, 
a part of which w r as henceforth known as " Dacia Aure- 
liani." After defeating the Goths, he undertook a war against 
Zenobia (a. d. 264-273), the queen of Palmyra. This city had 

1 As Odenathus, who founded the kingdom of Palmyra ; Celsus in Africa ; Marinus 
m Asia Minor ; Piso in Thessaly, etc. 

2 On the Upper Rhine and the head-waters of the Danube, the Suevi, or, as Tacitus 
calls them, the Chatti, had joined with the Boji, Marcomanni and Quadi, under the gen- 
eral name of Alemanni ; these tribes had formerly assailed Rhoetia, Pannonia, but later 
they broke through the Roman ramparts, entered the agri decumafes, and threatened 
Gaul and Italy ; in 272 they penetrated into Italy as far as Ravenna. They gained no 
permanent footing, but faded away before the enervating influences of the climate 

, and civilized life ; on the Lower Rhine, the Chatti, Chauci, Cherusci and other 
' tribes, under the name of Franks, invaded Gaul and penetrated into Spain and 
passed into Africa ; they made no permanent conquests ; on the Lower Danube and on 
the shores of the Euxine, the Goths and the Getae became the most threatening ; they 
occupied Dacia, they were bold navigators, they crossed the Euxine and ravaged the 
coast of Asia Minor. On the eastern frontier, the now dynasty of the Sassanidae was 
growing in power. About this time the Saracens came into notice, plundering the out- 
skirts between Egypt and Palestine. 3 Orleans. 



Ilpiii 

111111)1 



i A 




484 REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN. [a. d. 284-305. 

attained remarkable prosperity. Philosophy and the arts flour- 
ish ed, and Zenobia herself was illustrious for her political wis- 
dom, and the encouragement she gave to the critic Longinus. 
The city, the ruins of which are still among the most remark- 
able of the ancient world, was taken by storm and Zenobia led 
in triumph to Rome. Tacitus (a.d. 275-6), the next emperor, 
was elected by the senate. He lost his life in a campaign against 
the Alani in Asia Minor. On the death of Tacitus his brother 
Florian (a.d. 276) assumed the imperial purple, but he was de- 
feated and put to death by Probus (a.d. 276-282). Probus was 
engaged during his whole reign in driving back the barbarians 
on the frontiers, and in quelling disorder within the empire. 
He delivered Gaul from the ravages of the Germans ; he crossed 
the Rhine and recovered the agri decumates, and repaired the 
ancient fortifications from the Rhine to the Danube. Probus 
was murdered by his soldiers, who conferred the crown upon 
Amelias Carus (a.d. 282-3), the prefect of the praetorians. 
Carus proclaimed his two sons to be Caesars, and then pro- 
ceeded to conduct the war against the Persians. The sudden 
death of the emperor saved the kingdom of the Sassanidae. 
His two sons were murdered and the crown fell to Diocletian. 



♦• ♦ ♦» 



CHAPTER LXAril. 

The Second Period of the Imperial Government — 
Reforms Commenced by Diocletian (A. D. 284-305) 
were Completed by Constantine. 

1. Character of the Imperial Government. — The ac- 
cession of Diocletian marks a new era in the history of the 
empire. He inaugurated a new policy of government, which 
did away with the last semblance of liberty. From this time the 
old republican names entirely disappear — the senate and the 
consuls ceased to have any power. Until the death of Marcus 



A.D. 284-305.] KEIG^ OF DIOCLETIAN. 485 

Aurelius, the government retained much of the character of the 
old republic. Just as formerly the dictator had managed the 
state with the confidence of the aristocratic senate, so then it 
was guided by a permanent prince, nominated by his predeces- 
sor. In the first case the power of the dictator was limited in 
point of time, that of the latter by nothing except his own 
will. For the most part, however, the emperors chose to re- 
gard the senate with deference and to secure its co-operation 
in the government. The question with Augustus had been to 
arrange the relations of the military to the civil powers so as 
to make them as little oppressive and as durable as possible. In 
the first period, that is to the death of Aurelius, the Eoman 
people were distinctly separated from the barbarians. 

2. The Military Power. — During the transition period 
(a. d. 180-284) the military power became predominant. The 
Germans were admitted into the empire. The old limits of 
the frontier still remained, but barbarians swarmed throughout 
the empire. The word Eoman ceased to be a national designa- 
tion. The army was recruited from the barbarians — Goths and 
Vandals. Victories were still won, but mostly by barbarian 
hands. During this period the empire showed a tendency to 
separate, to break into fragments. Gaul, Britain and Spain, 
tended to separate from Italy and form new nationalites. In 
the time of the thirty tyrants, Gaul and Spain were actually 
separated and governed for some time by independent em- 
perors. The East sought to break away from the West, and 
this tendency was at a later time recognized by a permanent 
division of the empire. 

3. Changes Made by Diocletian. — These dangers, how- 
ever, were overcome, the empire rallied, and a new system was 
introduced that enabled it to support itself over its whole ex- 
tent for more than another century, and in the Eastern half 
for many centuries. It was no longer the question to arrange the 
relations between the imperator and the senate, but between the 
imperator and his legally and the army. But now, as then, the 
only hope of peace was in a strong central government. Liberty 
was still further diminished, and power still more absolutely 



486 REIGK OF DIOCLETIAN. [a. d. 284-305. 

concentrated into one man's hand. 1 In effecting this revolu- 
tion there came first the temporary arrangement of Diocletian, 
whose first act was to associate with himself (a. d. 286) his 
companion in arms, Maximum, under the title of Augustus, to 
rule over the West, white Diocletian himself encountered the 
enemies of the empire in the East. In A. D. 292, he appointed 
two Ccesars as assistants, Galerius and Constantius. They 
stood to the Augusti as sons and successors. The Augusti re- 
tained the more peaceful provinces, and assigned to the Csesars 
those that required younger and more active men. Each exer- 
cised supreme civil and military power in his own territories, 
but all admitted the supremacy of Diocletian. 2 The govern- 
ment was administered with vigor. The revolt in Egypt was 
quelled, the Alemanni were kept in check, and the Persians ' 
were brought to terms. Successful in every quarter, Diocle- 
tian celebrated in the ancient capital a magnificent triumph. 3 
Daring the reign of Diocletian occurred, as reckoned by 
ecclesiastical historians, the tenth and last persecution of the 
Christians. 4 

4. Taxation. — The vast increase in expenses necessary to 
support four courts, two of them at least with oriental mag- 
nificence ; and the increased number of officials, augmented 
taxation to such an extent, that the last spark of life was nearly 
crushed out. The oppressive imposts were wrung from the tax- 
payers with violence. Industry sank beneath the burden. The 
desire to accumulate withered, for the government lay in wait 
for all savings. The people were content to procure from the 
soil only enough to satisfy their individual wants. The price 

1 See Seeley, 1. c. 

a Diocletian reserved to himself the eastern provinces, and reigned from Nicomedia 
over Asia Minor, Syria and Egvpt. To Maximian were entrusted Italy and Africa, with 
his court at Milan instead of Rome. Constantius, with his capital at Treves, defended 
the Rhenish frontier with the provinces of Gaul, Spain and Britain to recruit his legions 
from. The defence of the Danubian frontier was committed to Galerius, with the prov- 
inces of Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia. He was established at Sirmium, 

. 3 , Maximian, as ruler of Italy, had the baths of Diocletian constructed between the 
Vi'minal and Quirinal. Fragments of the ruins have been found in the southwest side of 
the Piazza delle Terme. It is related that as many as 40,000 Christians were compelled 
to work in constructing these baths. 

r 4 They were (1) under Nero, a. d. 64 ; (2) under Domitian, a. d. 95 ; (3) under Trajan, 
a. d. 108 ; (4) under Marcus Aurelius, a. d. 166 ; (5) Severus. a. d. 202 ; (6) under Maxim- 
ian, a. d. 235 ; (7) under Decius, a. d. 259 ; (8) under Valerian, a. d. 258 ; (0) under 
Aurelian, a. d. 275 ; (10) under Diocletian and Maximian, 



THE 

ROMAN EMPIRE 

IN THE TIME OF 

DIOCLETIAN 



Scale of Miles 



100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 English 



A. D. 305-324.] 



EEIGJS" OF DIOCLETIAK. 



487 



of all commodities rose. An effort was made by an imperial 
edict 1 to fix the maximum prices of all necessaries of life 
throughout the empire. 

5. Diocletian Abdicates. — In b. c. 305, the emperors 
resigned the government into the hands of the Caesars. Dio- 
cletian returned to Dalmatia, his native country, and built a 
magnificent palace at Salona on the Adriatic coast. 




Arch of Const antine. (In its present condition.) 

6. Contest for the Empire (a. d. 305-324).— On the 
abdication of Diocletian and his colleague, the two Caesars 
assumed the title of Augustus, and appointed two new Caesars : 
Maximin to whom Syria and Egypt were assigned, and Severus 
who ruled in Italy and Africa. Constantius died soon after at 
York (a. d. 306), and his son Constantine was proclaimed 

1 In 1826 Col. Leake discovered a copy of this edict (issued a. d. 303) at Stratonicea 
(Eski-Hissar), in Caria. A maximum price is fixed for oil, salt, honey, butchers 1 meat, 
poultry, game, fish, vegetables, fruit, clothes, boots and shoes, corn, wine and beer, the 
wages of" laborers and artisans, schoolmasters and orators ; meat which in the second 
century of the empire had been in Rome about two denarii per pound, was fixed at 
eight ; the wages of agricultural laborers was twenty-five. — Mommsen, Das Edict Diocl. 
tie Preiiis Berum Venalium ; also Gibbon, vol. i., p. 440, note. 



488 EEIGK OF constantine. [a. d. 324-337. 



Caesar by his legions against the wish of Galerius. A series of 
bloody wars followed, and Constantine having overcome all his 
competitors, became sole emperor. 1 He received the epithet of 
" Great," to which his success had well entitled him. 

7. Military and Civil Powers Separated.— Under 
Diocletian the imperial power had been strengthened by sharing 
it with three able generals whom he attached to himself. The 
empire was firmly ruled from four centres — Nicomedia, Sir- 
mium, Milan and Treves, while the undisputed ascendency of 
Diocletian retained all the advantages of unity. This plan 
enabled the empire to subdue and pacify her subject nationali- 
ties, and to surmount the great danger that threatened its exist- 
ence — the tendency to break into fragments. Constantine 
completed the revolution begun by Diocletian. The tyranny 
of the legati was broken by separating the military power from 
the civil. Formerly, the legatus had at the same time been 
both a civil and military governor. Now the emperor alone 
possessed both civil and military power and the legati became 
civil governors. In this way the second danger was overcome, 
the formidable military governors were disarmed. The imag- 
ination of the people was dazzled by the establishment of a 
court with oriental magnificence, and their hearts were won by 
the alliance of the church with the state. 

8. Reorganization of the Empire. — The whole empire 
was divided into four prefectures, 2 and these again subdivided 

1 In Home, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, was declared emperor by the praetorians. 
Severus, who had been raised to the rank of " Augustus, " undertook to conduct the war 
against Maxentius, but he was defeated and killed. Galerius sought to subdue the rebellion 
but he was compelled to retreat. For a time there were six Augusti : Galerius, Maximin 
and Licinius in the East, and Constantine^Maximian and Maxentius in the West. First, 
Maximian trying to dethrone his son in Rome, was defeated and compelled to take refuge 
in Gaul, where he was killed by Constantine in a. d. 310. Galerius died in a. d. 311. 
Maxentius was defeated in a. d. 312 by Constantine in the battle of Turin, and as he was 
attempting to escape to Rome over the Milvian bridge (Ponte Mcllo) he was forced into 
the Tiber and drowned. The Roman senate decreed games and festivals, and had a tri- 
umphal arch erected in memory of the victory. It is adorned with admirable sculptures, 
stripped from the arch of Trajan. The basilica of Constantine was erected by Maxen- 
tius. Maximin was defeated in a. d. 313 by Licinius at Adrianople, and died in the 
flight. There only remained Licinius and Constantine. After a long and bloody struggle, 
Licinius being defeated at Adrianople and Chalcedon, Constantine remained sole emperor 
(a. d. 324). 

2 The four prefectures were those of (1) Gaul, comprising the western provinces ; 
(2) Italy, extending northward beyond the Alps and southward to the Atlas and 
Sahara ; (3) Illyricum, containing the countries between the Danube, the vEgean and 
Adriatic ; (4) the East, embracing all the Asiatic provinces. For a list of the 116 prov- 
inces, see Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Geography, article Constantinopolis. At 



A. d. 324-337.] reigst otf coxstaktine. 489 

into thirteen dioceses, consisting of one hundred and twenty 
provinces. The military power was entrusted to a master of 
the cavalry {magister equitum) and a master of the infantry 
(magister peditum), under whom were counts (cornites) and 
dukes (duces) ; the civil power was committed to four 
praetorian prefects, and the so-called vicars (vicarii) of the 
dioceses, and the consulars, presidents, proconsular and cor- 
rectors (correctores) of the provinces. 

9. The Capital; Taxation; The Army. — For a long 
time the progress of civilization had been toward the East. This 
tendency Constantine recognized by transferring his residence 
to Byzantium, which henceforth received the name of Con- 
stantinople. By transferring the seat of government to the 
East, the degradation of Eome 1 became complete. Even the 
seat of the western empire was at Milan. The new capital 
was fortified with walls and towers, embellished with palaces 
and churches, and decorated with the fairest treasures of art. 
There were two senates and a multitude of senators scattered 
throughout the empire. The number of legions was increased 
from thirty-one to one hundred and thirty-two, while the 
strength of each was decreased to about fifteen hundred men. 
The whole army, mostly recruited from barbarian tribes, under 
two commanders, later under four, occupied seven hundred 
and eighty-three permanent stations on the frontiers. In order 
to support this new government, a galling system of taxation 
was necessary. The taxes were raised by the old method. 2 

the court were seven chief officers (1) the Grand Chamberlain ( propositus sacri cubiculi) ; 
(2) the Chancellor {magister officiorum) ; (3) the Quaestor {quaestor sacri cubiculi) ; (4) the 
Treasurer General {comes sacrarum largitionum) • (5) the Treasurer of the Privy Purse 
{comes rerum privatarum) ; (6 and 7) the commanders of the body-guard of infantry and 
cavalry {cornites domesticorum equitum et peditwn). Each of these had a large number 
of attendants and officials under them, each of whom, as well as all which came in con- 
tact with them, were declared holy {sacri), and any injury to any one was regarded as 
high treason. A system of graduated titles was introduced, composed of three ranks, 
(1) the illustrious {illusires), (2) the respectable {spectabiles), and the honorable {clarissimi). 
Those who had not been raised to the senatorial rank had the title of perfectissimi or 
egregii ; the senators were clarissimi ; the two other titles were reserved for the higher 
officials. 

1 From a description of the city written about A. d. 312, we know that Eome had 
6 obelisks, 8 bridges, II baths, 856 bath-rooms, 19 aqueducts (4 now in use), 2 circuses, 
2 amphitheatres, 3 theatres, 4 gladiatorial schools, 36 triumphal arches. There were 423 
streets, 1790 palaces, 46,602 dwelling-houses. From the 37 gates diverged 23 roads. — 
Friedlander, 1. c, vol. i., p. 12 f. 

2 The land-tax, poll-tax, tax on trades, indirect taxes, custom dues, forced contri- 
butions ; it is not certain that Constantine added others. 



490 HEIGK OF CONSTANTINE. [a. d. 324-337. 

10. Christianity the State Religion. —The most im- 
portant change that Constantine introduced was the adoption 
of Christianity as the state religion. Constantine related to his 
biographer Eusebius, that while marching from Gaul at the 
head of his legions, he beheld in the heayens a luminous cross 
with this inscription, By this conquer (tovtg) vino). In con- 
sequence of this vision he made a standard for the whole army 
the labarum after the pattern of the cross. In a.d. 313 the cele- 
brated Milan decree was issued which gave the imperial license 
to the religion of the Christians. When Constantine became 
sole ruler, he openly declared in favor of Christianity. The 
favor that Constantine bestowed upon the Christians was 

\ dictated by policy ; for he hoped to secure their support in the 
contest with his rival. Just as Augustus had based his empire 
on a revival of the Pagan faith, so Constantine accepted the 
Christian and sought to effect a union between church and 
state. The efforts of Constantine to bring into harmony the 
Christian and Pagan faiths were unsuccessful. He could not 

I even keep the Christians in agreement with one another. In 
A. d. 325 the first general council of the representatives of the 
church at Nicaea (Nice) met to decide the controversy between 
Arius and Athanasius. 

11. Character of Constantine. — Constan tine's charac- 
ter was not free from serious faults. He had Licinius and his 

, own son put to death. His religion was a strange mixture be- 
/ tween Christianity and Paganism. He worshipped Pagan 
divinities, consulted the haruspices, and indulged in Pagan 
superstitions. The reforms of Constantine were of great 
importance, because they changed entirely the character of the 
government. The power of the senate was gone forever, and 
the restrictions of the old constitutional government disap- 
peared. Constantine created a new senate and a new hierarchy 
of officers, which became the prototype for the graduated scale of 
nobility of Europe. His military talents and powers of organ- 
ization were great. On the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers he 
drove back the Germans and the Sarmatians, and at the time of 
his death was about to conduct a campaign against the Persians. 



A. D. 337-476.] THE DECLIKE 05* THE EMPIRE, 491 



chapter lxviii. 

The Gradual Dissolution of the Empire — The Reunion 
of the East and the West. 

1. Bloody Warfare.— Constantine had divided the em- 
pire between his three sons, Constantine, Constans, and Con- 
stantius. After several years of bloody warfare Constantius) 
(a. d. 353-361) gained the sovereignty. While he was engaged 
in the East, he sent Julian, whom he had named Caesar, to 
protect Gaul from the Alemanni and the Franks who had over- 
run the whole province. Julian drove them out of the country, 
led three expeditions across the Rhine, and ravaged Germany 
far and wide. On his return he was proclaimed emperor and 
marched against his rival to maintain his cause. A civil war 
was prevented by the death of Constantius. 

2. Julian (a. d. 361-363). — Julian had been educated by 
the Platonic philosophers, and was a pagan by conviction. He \ 
attempted to destroy Christianity by directing against its pro- 
fessors every weapon of petty persecution. He discharged the 
superfluous officers, improved the administration, and tightened 
the reins of discipline in the army. He was a brave soldier. 
He undertook a campaign against the Persians, and attempted 
to make Babylonia a Roman province. He fell while trying to 
effect a retreat from the Tigris, and was succeeded by Jovian 
(a. d. 363-4), whose reign is remarkable for nothing except the 
disgraceful peace that he concluded with the Persians. 

3. Division of the Empire. — Jovian was succeeded by Val- 
entinian (a. d. 364-375), who resigned the East to his brother 
Valens (a.d. 364-378), while he took upon himself the defence 
of the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers. 1 Valentinian was killed 

1 With his court first at Milan, afterwards at Treves, in order to conduct the war 
against the Alemanni. 



492 DISSOLUTION" OF THE empire, [a.d. 337-476. 

in a campaign against the Quadi and the Sarmatians, and the 
Empire of the West fell to his son Gratian (a.d. 375-383.) 

4. Invasion of the Huns. — While Valens was ruling in 
the East, the Huns appeared on the Danube and defeated the 
Visigoths/ who, being hard-pressed, obtained permission in 
A. d. 376 to cross the Danube and settle in Moesia. But 
the Goths being provoked by ill-treatment from the Eoman 
officials, seized their arms and defeated the Eomans at Mar- 
cianople and Adrianople (a.d. 378), and slew Valens. 

5. Gratian (a.d. 375-383). — Gratian, who had succeeded 
Valentinian, feeling unable to cope with the new foe, placed, 
in a.d. 379, the East under the superintendence of the brave 
Theodosius (a. d. 379), who has justly been called the Great. 
Partly by successful battles, partly by negotiation, he succeeded 
in reducing the Visigoths (a. d. 382) and afterwards the Ostro- 
goths (a. d. 386) to subjection and settled them in Moesia, 
Thrace, Asia Minor and Illyricum, and admitted forty thou- 
sand of them into the Eoman army. 

6. Theodosius. — In the West, Gratian was killed by 
Maximus (A. d. 383-388); and Valentinian II. (a.d. 388-392), 
who had succeeded Gratian, as well as Eugenius (a. d. 392- 
394) were conquered and put to death by Theodosius 
(a. d. 374). As sole emperor (a. d. 394-5) Theodosius re- 
pelled the barbarians and strengthened the frontier. On 
his death the empire was divided between his two sons Area- 
dius and Honorius. The former was under the guidance of 
Eufinus and the latter that of Stilicho. This division of the 
empire is of importance, for it was the recognition of a ten- 
dency that had long been at work. Henceforth there existed a 
jealousy between the East and the West. The barbarians were 
often treated with by the Eastern emperor and induced to turn 
their arms against the West. From this time dates the estab- 
lishment of the Eastern Empire, which existed from the reign 
of Arcadius (a.d. 395) 2 to the capture of Constantinople by the 
Turks in A. D. 1453. 

1 When the Visigoths (Western Goths) entered the empire, the Ostrogoths (Eastern 
Goths) pressed forward to fill their vacant room. 

2 Date of the final division of the empire. 



A. D. 337-476.] DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIEE. 493 

7. Stilicho. — In a. d. 398 the Goths of Moesia and Thrace 
revolted under Alaric ; but instead of being repressed by the 
Eastern emperor, Arcadius made Alaric general over Eastern 
Illyricum. The invasion of the West that followed was attributed 
to the connivance of the Eastern emperor, who turned the Goths x 
towards Italy in order to save his own territories. The brave 
Stilicho checked the invaders, finally defeating them in a. d. 403 
near Pollen tia and Verona, and compelling Alaric their leader 
to retreat. In a. d. 406 the Vandals, Suevi, Alani, and Bur- 
gundians, under the leadership of Ehadagaisus, were defeated 
near Florence and almost totally annihilated. The remnant 
of the barbarian army crossed the Alps, and plundered Gaul. 
From this time (a.d. 406) dates the final severance of Gaul from 
the Eoman empire. The Sueves, Alans and Vandals, who gave 
their names to the province of Vandalusia, (or Andalusia) passed 
into Spain (a.d. 409), while the Burgundians founded the 
kingdom of Burgundy. About the same time (a.d. 418) the 
kingdom of the Franks was founded by Pharamand. In a.d. 
408 Alaric reappeared. Stilicho had fallen, having been sacri- 
ficed to the jealousy of the emperor. Eome was besieged, and 
only saved by paying an enormous ransom (a.d. 409). 

8. Sack of Rome by Alaric. — In a. d. 410 Alaric re- 
turned for the third time. Rome was taken and sacked and 
Southern Italy overrun. His successor, Adolphus, concluded 
a treaty with Honorius by which the Goths settled in Gaul. 
His successor, Wallia, drove the Vandals and Alans beyond the 
Sierra Morena and founded the West-Gothic kingdom with its 
capital at Tolosa. When the Vandals crossed over to Africa 
the West-Goths extended their power over the whole of Spain. 

1 The place of the Moeso-Goths in the Teutonic family can be seen from the following 
table : * 

Teutonic. 

I 

! I 

German. Scandinavian, including 

Icelandic, Danish, etc. 



I ! I 

Mceso-Gothic. Low German, including High German, including 

Friesian, Old Saxon. Old High German, 

Anglo-Saxon. English, Middle High German, 

Dutch, Flemish. Modern High German. 



494 



DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE. [A.D. 337-476. 



9. Tendency of the Empire to Break into Frag- 
ments. — About the same time Britain (a. d. 418) broke away 
from the empire. Gaul and Spain soon afterwards were lost. 
Illyricum and Pannonia were overrun by Goths. Africa was 
wrested from the empire by the barbarian Genseric. Honorius 
died in a.d. 423, and was succeeded by Valentinian III. (a.d. 
425-455) with iEtius, "the last of the Romans," as his minis- 




ter. During his reign the Huns, under Atiila, who called 
himself "the Scourge of God," crossed the Rhine and entered 
the empire. Being defeated by the West-Goths and the Franks 
under the leadership of ^Etius at Chalons (a. d. 451), they in- 
vaded Italy the next year and spread desolation and ruin over 
the whole plain of the Po. Padua, Verona, and Aqnileja were 
destroyed, and the inhabitants fled to the islands of the Veneti, 



A.r>. 337-476.] dissolution of the empire. 495 

and laid the foundation of Venice. The chief kingdoms that 
were founded by the followers of Attila were that of the Ostro- 
goths in Pannonia, that of the Gepidae in Dacia, and that of 
the Heruli in Dalmatia. 

10. Sack of Rome by Genseric. — Valentinian was mur- 
dered by Maximus, who lost his life the same year in the sack 
of Rome by the Vandals under Genseric (a. d. 455). The vessels 
of the barbarians were heaped with gold and silver treasures, and 
with the ornaments from the temples and the forum. The capitol 
was stripped of its gilded tiles, and the golden candlesticks 
that Titus had brought from Jerusalem were taken to Africa. 

11. Count Ricimer. — Maximus was followed by Avitus 
(a. d. 455-6), but the latter was soon compelled to abdicate by 
Count Ricimer, who commanded the foreign troops in the pay 
of Rome. Ricimer created and deposed emperors until A. d. 472. 
During this time Italy was subjected to incessant depredations, 
so that Ricimer applied to Leo, the emperor of the East, for aid. 
On the death of Ricimer Leo appointed Nepos emperor, but Ores- 
tes, who had obtained the title of patrician, which ranked next to 
the emperor, deprived JSTepos of the royal purple and gave it to 
his son Romulus Augustulus. Odoacer, by whose aid Orestes 
had defended the empire, demanded pay for his mercenaries, 
and, according to the custom of the barbarians, one third of the 
land of Italy. When this was refused, Odoacer gathered the 
barbarian forces throughout Italy. Orestes was shut up in Pa via 
and killed in the assault upon the city. Augustulus was com- 
pelled to abdicate, and was permitted to retire with an ample 
revenue to the villa of Lucullus in Campania. The senate sent 
a deputation to the Eastern emperor Zeno to represent that 
there was no longer any need of a separate emperor for the West, 
and entreated him to confer the administration of the Italian 
provinces 1 on Odoacer. He granted what he could not refuse, 
and Odoacer 2 with the title of patrician ruled Italy as the vicar 
of the Eastern emperor. 

1 See list of Italian provinces, p. xxii. 

3 After a reign of fourteen years Odoacer was compelled to yield his throne to Theo- 
doric, who founded the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy. 



496 FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. [A.D. 476. 

12. Reunion of the East and the West. — The East and 

the West were once more united, and for more than three cen- 
turies the empire was ruled from Byzantium instead of Eome. 
The year a. d. 476, often mistaken as the date of the fall of the 
Koman empire, only marked the reunion of the West with the 
East. It was not till later times that this year became such an 
important epoch. The consequences of this reunion, however, 
in emancipating the popes from the authority of the emperors, 
in hastening the development of a Latin as opposed to Greek 
and oriental forms of Christianity, and in bringing the Teu- 
tonic ruler of the West under the power of the popes, were from 
the first very great. 1 The form of government — the Eoman 
emperor, the consuls, the senate — still existed, and the people 
cherished the delusion that the barbarian king was only the 
vicar of the absent emperor. 2 For more than three centuries a 
single emperor ruled the world. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 



The Internal History — The Fall of the Western Em- 
pire — Christianity the State Religion. 

1. The Fall of the Empire. — It is important to re- 
member that the history of the Western Roman empire did 
not terminate with the year A. d. 476. Legally it had no ex- 
tinction; the seat of the civil government was simply trans- 
ferred to Byzantium. The imperial government had been 
established to protect the frontier and to promote peace and 
security in Italy and the provinces. 3 Different emperors 

* Bryce, Holy Rom. Empire, p. 26. 

2 There is no ancient authority for the common statement that Odoacer assnmed the 
title of "king of Italy " ; he reigned as king over his own people. For mediaeval his- 
tory it is important to remember that the line of emperors never ceased ; that from a. d. 
476 to 800, the time when Charles the Great assumed the empire, the Byzantine em- 
peror was always in theory, often in practice, the recognized head of Rome and Italy. 

3 Odoacer reigned 18 years. His followers were mere predatory tribes. No progress 
was made in reorganizing society until Theodoric, the king of the Ostrogoths (a. d. 490), 



A.D. 476.] FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 497 

erected barriers against the invasion of the barbarians on 
the frontiers, and, if we except the forays on the Rhine, 
the peace of the Roman world was not broken until the 
time of Marcus Aurelius. In the next century the barbarians 
appeared in powerful confederacies * on every frontier, but the 
empire, strengthened by the reforms of Diocletian, rallied and 
appeared stronger in the fourth than in the third century. The 
Huns, Goths, Vandals, Alani, and Franks, hurled themselves 
in ceaseless succession upon the frontiers, broke their barriers, 
and poured in a resistless torrent over the Western provinces. 
Gaul, Spain, Britain, and Africa was sundered from the empire, 
and the fair plains of Italy were desolated by host after host. 
Rome was taken and sacked. Her temples were stripped of their 
ornaments, and finally Italy fell to the position of a province, 
and its government was assumed by the Eastern emperor. 

2. Causes of the Fall of the Empire.— This is what is 
usually called the fall of the Western empire. The empire was 
matched in war with the barbarians, and the barbarians con- 
quered. 2 The cause of the inability of the empire to cope with 
the barbarians is usually ascribed to the degeneracy of the 
Romans and the enervating effect of luxury. This reason, how- 
ever, is unsatisfactory, for the luxury of the capital did not 
reach the armies on the frontiers. They were levied from the 
peasantry, and were composed of the ■ salt of the old Roman 
world.' Besides, the Roman armies held their own with re- 
markable bravery. Julian drove the Alemanni across the Rhine; 
Theodosius quelled the Goths ; Stilicho repulsed Alaric ; and 
iEtius, "the last of the Romans," defeated Attila at Chalons. 
The empire perished because the constant decline in population 3 
rendered it impossible to keep a native army on foot. Caesar 
had perceived this danger, and he first taught the Romans to 

although professing allegiance to the Eastern emperor, attempted to establish a national 
monarchy and unite the peoples under the laws and policy of ancient Rome. His success 
awoke the jealousy of Justinian, the Eastern emperor, who determined to reassert his 
right in the West. Italy was divided into counties and dukedoms and ruled from 
Ravenna by the viceroy of Justinian. 

1 See p. 482, note 2. 

2 Seeley, 1. c, p. 48. 

3 The population of Rome before the plague in a. d. 167 was about 2 millions, 
Hirsqhfeld estimates it in the time of geverus at only 125,000, 



498 CHARACTER OF THE BARBARIANS. 

protect the frontiers by artificial ramparts, to colonize the near- 
est barbarian tribes in order that the first blow might fall on 
them and perhaps be repelled, and to recruit the Eoman army 
from the enemies' country. Under the empire the army became 
a barbarian horde, commanded sometimes by barbarian chiefs. 
Stilicho was a Vandal, and iEtius a Sarmatian. Eicimer made 
or unmade emperors at his pleasure. Whole tribes — the Van- 
dals in Pannonia, the Goths in Moesia, the Franks along the 
Khine — were admitted within the empire. The barbarians 
really settled and occupied the empire rather than conquered 
it. Italy attracted the spoilers. Here the same policy was tried 
that had proved fatal in the provinces. The defence of Italy 
was committed to a barbarian army commanded by barbarian 
chiefs. At last these chiefs learned their strength. Odoacer 
determined to exert it and have Italy for himself. Although 
the empty title and office of emperor of the West was abolished, 
still such was the halo of greatness that gathered round the 
imperial name, that Odoacer refrained from grasping the scep- 
tre in his own hands, but remained satisfied with the title of 
patrician, and he ruled the West as the viceroy of the Eastern 
emperor. 

3. Character of the Barbarians. — All the barbarians 
who acted a prominent part in plundering Italy and the 
provinces, must not be looked upon as savages. They had 
long ceased to be mere destroyers. In their intercourse with 
the Eomans for many centuries, they had received Christianity 
and many of the elements of civilization, and had learned to 
understand and speak the popular dialects 1 of the country, 
which already resembled the Italian more than the Latin ; they 
were just as civilized as our ancestors were in the middle ages. 
A few of them had a shadow of classical education, as Theodoric 
the Visigoth, and the younger Alaric, but the case was quite 
different with Eicimer and his equals, who no doubt heartily 
despised the culture of the Romans. 2 The Germans particu- 
larly, although like the others, faithless and cruel, still had 

1 Lingua vulgaris, a Neibunr, i, c . • Pritcnard, Hist, of Man, vol. iii, p. 423, 



A.D. 476.] THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES. 499 

great regard for the rights of men and paid great respect 
to the female sex. It was these traits of character among the 
Germans and the Goths which, when enlightened by Chris- 
tianity, distinguished the age of chivalry and romance. 

4. The Romance Languages. — The six so-called Eo- 
mance languages— Italian, Wallachian, Provengal, French, Span- 
ish, and Portuguese — are all derived from the Latin or rather 
from the ancient Italian. Although we can trace these six 
languages back to the Latin, still the classical Latin would fail 
to supply a complete explanation of their origin. The ingre- 
dients for these languages must be sought in the ancient dialects 
of Italy and the provinces — the Umbrian, the Oscan, in the 
so-called vulgar or popular speech — which the barbarians who 
settled in the empire adopted, and engrafted upon them their 
own idioms, phrases, and constructions. The French, then, 
is provincial Latin, as spoken by the Franks, a Teutonic race. 1 
It must, however, be remembered that the Romance languages 
did not spring from the classical Latin, but from the vulgar, 
local, provincial dialects of the middle, the lower, and the 
lowest classes of the Roman empire. Many of the words 
which give to French and Italian their classical appearance, 
are really of much later date, and were incorporated into those 
languages by mediaeval scholars, lawyers and divines. 2 

1 If a German speaks a foreign tongue he commits certain mistakes which a French- 
man never would commit, and vice versa. A German speaking would be inclined to say: 
to bring a sacrifice ; a Frenchman would never make that mistake. A Frenchman, on 
the contrary, is apt to say, that he cannot attend any longer. Englishmen, traveling 
abroad, have been heard to call for wachter, meaning waiter ; they have declared, in Ger- 
man, Ich habe einen grossen Geist Sie nieder zu klopfen, meaning they had a great mind 
to knock a person down. No Roman would express the idea of entertaining or amusing 
by intertenere. Such an expression would have conveyed no meaning to Cicero or Caesar. 
The Germans, however, were accustomed to the idiomatic use of unterhalten, and when 
they had to make themselves understood in Latin, they rendered unter by inter, 
halten by tenere, and thus formed entretenir, a word owned neither by Latin nor German. 
Gegend, in German, means region or country. It signifies originally that which is before 
or against, what forms the object of view. Now in Latin gegen, or against, would be 
expressed by contra, and the German, not recollecting at once the Latin word regio, took 
to translating their idea of Gegend, that which was before them, by contratum, ox terra 
contrata. This became the Italian contrada, the French contree, the English country. 
These mistakes grammarians call Germanisms, Gallicisms, or Anglicisms. Now the 
Germans who came to settle in Italy and Gaul, and who learnt to express themselves 
in Latin, committed precisely these mistakes. The Roman subjects did the best they 
could to understand the Latin jargon, and, if they wished to be very polite, they would 
repeat the mistake which their masters had committed. In this manner the most un- 
grammatical, the most unidiomatic phrases would, after a time, become current in the 
vulgar speech. (Max Muller, 1. c, vol. ii, p. 3055.) 

a Max Muller, La, vol. i, p. 22% ff. 



500 KEYIYAL OF PAGANISM. [A.D. 476. 

5. Philosophy and Religion. — In order to understand 
what form of Paganism prevailed in the empire when Chris- 
tianity became the state religion, we must briefly review the 
changes that have been made in the national worship since the 
compromise effected between Greek philosophy and Stoicism, 
in the days of the republic. Under the empire the old 
prejudices against philosophy and foreign forms of worship 
died out. Then the various forms of oriental superstition 
— the worship of the Syrian sun-god, of Isis and Serapis — 
Persian and Egyptian mysticism, and various forms of secret 
and unhallowed worship, found their way to Home. The 
philosophers eliminated certain elements common to all these 
systems of religion, and combined them with the most vision- 
ary part of Plato's philosophy. 1 The native gods lost their 
power, and the people became perplexed with the multitude 
of new gods. The result was that the people selected a certain 
number of gods — among which Jupiter, the god of the clear 
sky, and the old Italian sun-god held the first rank — whom 
they thought mostly able to help them in their distress. Pagan- 
ism in its last form returned to what perhaps was its oldest, 
and became sun-worship. 2 

6. Revival of Paganism. — During the revolutionary age 
the calamities and miseries — the plague, the unparalleled polit- 
ical disasters, the fiscus, which destroyed all capital and with it 
all desire to accumulate — compelled men to be religious, for 
religious feeling is always strong in proportion to the sense of 
weakness. Men in their distress filled the temples in the vain 
hope that piety might avert the impending calamities. If we 
pass over the revolutionary age, we find that a great change 
had taken place. The people who in the age of the Antonines 
were alike indifferent to every form of philosophy, have become 

\ intensely religious. "Free-will asserted itself again, and acts of 



1 Apulejus tried to bring this new system (Neoplatonism) into conformity with the 
national religion, by calling the demons (who were supposed to hold intercourse with 
men and whose interventions explained the mysteries of the world) lares and manes and 
genii. This device succeeded, in a measure, and the new philosophy gained acceptance 
among the higher classes. 

9 See Preller, Bomische Mythologie, p. 26, also Seeley, 1. c, p. 81. 



CHRISTIANITY THE STATE RELIGION". 501 

free choice were done. The government was none the less 
despotic, but free-will made terms with the victorious power 
of government and accepted a fraction, but a secure fraction, 
of its original possessions. A distinction was introduced like 
that which we now recognize between political and social life. 
In political life, despotism reigned with more undisputed title 
than ever, and was more remorselessly cruel. But from social 
life despotism was almost expelled." 1 

7. Progress of Christianity. — We have already spoken 
of the entrance of Christianity into the Roman empire, and the 
fact that it found its first converts among the slaves and freed- 
men. Since that time Christianity had made great progress, 
and had found favor with many of higher rank. In the begin- 
ning of the second century, Pliny 2 speaks of the Christians as 
a well-known class, and the laws 3 against them as well under- 
stood. The revival of religion during the revolutionary age 
was felt in the action of the government against the Christians. 
It was in the name of religion 4 that Decius and Aurelian 
assailed the Christians. In the time of Diocletian, the Chris- 
tians had become so numerous, that his edict commanding them 
to offer sacrifices was resisted throughout the empire. 

8. Christianity the State Religion. — Constantine, though 
personally indifferent to every form of religion, had the acute- 
ness to perceive that Christianity was a great power in the 
state, and in order to conciliate the favor of its followers, he 
issued an edict, 5 licensing the religion of the Christians, and 
promising them his favor and protection. After his success in 
the field, Constantine recognized the rights of Christians, and 
protected their churches. 6 Still, he did not break with Pagan- 

1 Seeley, 1. c, 89. 3 He was governor of Bithynia in a. d. 111-113. 

3 Secundum mandata tua hetcerias vetueram. 

* It is a mistake to suppose that Christianity made the Eoman world religious ; it was 
intensely religious before Christianity had become the state religion. 

5 The Edict of Milan, a. d. 313. 

6 From this age dates the rise of that form of architecture, which was modelled 
upon the Roman basilica, in which the main body of the building (the nave, so-called 
from its resemblance to the interior of a ship, navis) accommodated those assembled for 
pleasure or business ; the aisle (alas, wings), divided from the nave by pillars, afforded 
freer passage as well as retirement from the crowd ; while the semicircular end (apse) 
was for the prsetor and those who appeared before his tribunal. In the churches these 
divisions became the nave, aisles, and choir. The two oldest and finest examples of 
Christian basilicse were those of St. Peter, built by Constantine (on the site of the 
present St, Peter's), and St. Paul, built by Honorius, 



502 



CHRISTIANITY THE STATE RELIGION. 



ism. He was chief pontiff of Jupiter, and even looked forward 
to being himself enrolled among the objects of national worship. 
He was unwilling to make any distinction 1 between his Pagan 
and Christian subjects, or to establish Christianity by any 
formal act. Still, by the edict of toleration, and by practising 
the forms of Christian worship himself, Constantine encouraged 
his subjects to embrace something better than the Sun-worship. 
The forms of Paganism had waxed old and were ready to 
vanish. It was well that it was so ; it was well that " the 
Koman empire, searching eagerly to find a religion, discovered 
in its own bosom a worship which had the two things which 
the age demanded — a supernatural pretension and an ideal of 
moral goodness." 2 

1 The retention of the old Pagan name of Dies solis, or Sunday, for the weekly Chris- 
tian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of Pagan and Christian sentiment, 
with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, 
Pagan and Christian alike, as the " venerable day of the sun. 1 ' His decree regulating its 
observance has justly been called a new era in the history of the Lord's Day. It was his 
mode of harmonizing the discordant religions of the empire under one common institu- 
tion.— Bean Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 193. 2 Seeley, 1. c, 95. 



SUMMAET. 
First Period of Imperialism — b. c. 31-a. d. 180. 



Extent of the 

Empire. 



Reign 

of Augustus., 

B.C. 3I-A.D. 14. 



Powers Con- 
ferred on 
Augustus. 



When Augustus became sole ruler, the Roman 
empire extended from the Atlantic ocean to the Euphra- 
tes on the east, and from the British channel, the Ger- 
man ocean, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euxine on 
the north to the African desert on the south. Augustus 
carefully avoided every title that could give offence to 
the people. The senate was raised in general estima- 
tion, and on its dignity he founded his government. 
While avoiding all show and grandeur and discarding 
every title, even the name of dictator, that had any- 
unpleasant recollections attached to it, he managed to 
grasp within his own hands all the offices of the state 
that had any real power attached to them. As imper- 
ator he had the proconsular power or command of the 
armies ; as president of the senate he guided the coun- 
cils of that body; as consul and censor, he had the 
powers attached to these offices, and finally the tribu- 
nitian power and the chief pontificate was added, 






SUMMARY. 



503 



Augustus restored order in Italy and the provinces. 
Nine praetorian cohorts kept order in Rome and Italy. 
To these must be added the regular and special police 
force in the city. During the reign of Augustus cam- 
paigns were carried on against the tribes in northern 
Spain, as well as those of the Eastern Alps — the Rhae- 
tians and Vindelitians, and those on the Rhenish ] and 
Danubian frontiers. The last years of the emperor's 
life was clouded by a defeat in Germany under Varus. 

During the reign of Augustus several important 
provinces were added to the empire — Egypt, the gran- 
ary of the empire, Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia and 
Mcesia. Under his successors, the boundaries of the 
empire were still further extended. Cappadocia and 
Germania, acquired by Tiberius ; Britain, by Claudius ; 
Mauritania Tingitana, Mauritania Canadensis, by Gajus 
Caesar ; Alpes Cottiae and Thrace (a.d. 46^, under Nero ; 
and Arabia (a. d. 105), Dacia (a. d. 107), Armenia (a. d. 
114), Mesopotamia (a. d 115) and Assyria (a.d. 115), by 
Trajan. 

During the first period of imperialism, the forms of 
the constitution were generally observed. Some 
emperors — as Tiberius and Nero — by reviving the law 
of Majestas, and the encouragement they gave to 
' informers,' were cruel tyrants ; the weight of their 
tyranny, however, fell chiefly on the city, while the 
provinces were ably governed. Under Trajan, Ha- 
drian, and the Antonines, the government was wisely 
and honestly administered, and the empire reached a 
•high state* of prosperity. The city of Rome was 
adorned with magnificent structures, while roads, 
harbors, bridges, aqueducts and buildings were con- 
structed in the provinces. 



Transition Period — A. d d 180-284. 

During this period the prosperity of the empire de- 
clined rapidly. The remnants of the old republican 
government disappeared. The soldiers deserted and 
either settled among the provincials, or formed them- 
selves into banditti and ravaged the country. Popula- 
tion declined, morality decreased, patriotism died out, 
provinces seemed on the point of breaking away from 
the empire, the internal administration was neglected, 
the soldiery made and unmade emperors, and the 
empire seemed tottering to its fall. When Diocletian 
ascended the throne, he restored the discipline in the 
army and introduced reforms that enabled the empire 
to exist for many centuries. 



Police 
Measures. 



Campaigns. 



Defeat of 
Varus, 

A.D. 9. 



Extension 
of tlie Empire. 



Period of Good 
Government. 



Prosperity. 



Period of 
Anarchy. 



Mutinous 
Soldiery. 

Diocletian, 

A. D. 284-305. 



1 The principal towns on the Rhenish frontier were Colonia A^rippinensis ( Cologne)* 
Bonna (Bonn), Ad Confluentes (CoUcntz), Mogontiacum (Mayenoe)^ Borbetomagus 
\Worms), Argentoratura (Stra,$burq), and Augusta Bauxacorum {Ba^e) y 



504 



SUMMARY. 



Reforms 
of Diocletian. 



Reforms 
Completed by 

Constantine. 



The New 
Capital. 



Second Period of Imperialism — 
a.d. 284-476. 

Diocletian's first act was to associate Maximian with 
himself as ruler, under the title of 'Augustus.' Then 
two ' Caesars ' who were to stand to the Augusti as sons 
and successors, were created to rule the more unsettled 
provinces. This arrangement secured the throne 
against a vacancy, and thus deprived the soldiers 
of making or unmaking emperors at their pleasure. 
Throughout the empire anarchy was repressed, the 
praetorians were diminished in numbers and made to 
feel the restraints of discipline. 

The reforms begun by Diocletian were completed by 
Constantine. The praetorians were abolished, a court on 
the oriental plan was organized, and a graduated system 
of titles introduced. The army was reorganized, the 
military power was taken from the legati and reserved for 
the emperor. By transferring the capital to the East, 
and the creation of a new senate, Constantine broke 
away from the restraints which the senate had hitherto 
exercised on the authority of the emperor, and freed 
himself from the restrictions which the old constitution 
imposed upon him. The government was converted 
into an oriental despotism. 

Constantine showed favor to the Christians, granted 
them the free exercise of their religion, and by dis- 
associating the government with Paganism, he founded 
it to a certain extent on Christianity. 

The empire, strengthened by these reforms, rallied 
and continued its existence for several centuries. The 
creation of several co-ordinate rulers was a source of 
numerous quarrels, and the partition of the empire 
into prefectures increased the tendency to break into 
fragments. Constantine was hardly dead before a 
series of bloody wars commenced between his ap- 
pointed successors. The empire was soon divided. A 
jealousy sprang up between the East and the West. The 
Eastern emperor often turned the barbarians towards 
the West, in order to save his own dominions. Rome 
was sacked by Alaric (a.d. 410) and Genseric (a.d. 455). 
The western provinces were overrun by the barbarians, 
the army became a barbaric horde, province after 
province broke from the empire, until finally Italy 
alone was left. This the barbarians determined -to pos- 
sess also. The emperor was deposed, and Odoacer, the 
barbarian chief, ruled Italy as the viceroy of the Eastern 
emperor. 



Christianity. 



Disadvantages 

of these 

Changes. 



Dissolution 

of the Empire, 
A.D. 337-476. 



Reunion of 

the East and 

the West, 

A.E>. 476. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abruzzi, 7. 

Accensi, 363. 

Actium, battle of, 358. 

Achaean League, 158, 163, 166. 

Achaja, a Roman province, 181. 

Acies, 312; duplex, 372, n. ; simplex, 372, n. 1: 
triplex, 3T2, n. 1 ; 373, n. 4 ; 374, n. 1. 

Adherbal, 216. 

Addictus, 56, n. 1. 

Adolphus, 493. 

AdrianOple, battle of, 492. 

^Ediles, 385. 

^Egatian islands, battle at, 126. 

iEl us Sejanus, 442. 

^Egatian islands, 126. 

^milianus, P. Scipio, 169, 177, 202. 

iEmillius Paulus, slain in the battle of 
Cannae. 

^Eneas, 23. 

JEquians, 3, 76, 93. 

^Esepus, 288. 

^Er avium, 76. 

M tius, 494. 

JEtolian League, 158 ; dissolved, 165, n. 3. 

iEtolian wars, 161, 162. 

Africa, a Roman province, 171. 

Ager GalPicus, 5, n. 1 ; Bomdnus, 11, n. 1 ; 
114, n. 

Agri decumates, 453, 484. 

Agrarian law of S. Cassius, 62 ; of T. Grac- 
chus, 203 ; extended by G. Gracchus, 209. 

Agric51a, 454. 

Agrigentum besieged and taken, 120. 

Agrippa, minister of Augustus, 354. 

Menenius, 57. 

Agripplna, 449, 470, n. 7. 

Alani, 493. 

Alaric, 493. 

Alba Longa, 26. 

Alban Lake, 

Alemanni, 482, 497. 

Alesia, taken by Caesar, 313. 

Alexander Severus, emperor, 481. 

Alexander, king of Epirus, 

Alexandria, 332. 

Alimentus, Cincius, the annalist, 25. 

Allia, battle of, 77. 

Allies, 184; number of Italian, 232, n. 3. 

Allobr5ges, embassadors of the, 295. 

Alps, 6 ; Hannibal's route, 136. 

Amphitheatre, meaning of, 411, n. 4.; 411 f. 

Ancus Marcius, 30 ; conquers Latin cities 
and removes the inhabitants to Rome, 30. 



Ancyra, 438; Monumentum Ancyranum, 
438. 

Andriscus, 166. 

Annus conf usionis, 339, n. 2. 

Anti5chus, king of Syria, 156; proposes 
partition of Egypt, 161 ; receives Hanni- 
bal, 101 ; invades Greece, 162 ; defeated 
at Thermophylae, 162 ; at Magnesia, 162 ; 
cedes all his territory in Asia Minor to 
the Romans, 162. 

Antium, conquest of, 96. 

Antisigndti, 372, n. 3. 

Antoninus, M. Comm5dus, emperor, 479. 

Antoninus Pius, emperor, 464. 

Antonius, G., 287. 

Antonius, M., the orator, 246. 

Antonius,Marcus (Mark Antony), 330, 343 f., 
351 ; death of, 359. 

Apennines, 6. 

Appian Way, 111. 

Apollonia, 345. 

Appian, the historian, 116a, 255, n. 3. 

Appius Claudius Caecus, 106. 

Appulejus, 227 ; his laws, 222. 

Apulia, 6. 

Apulejus, 500, n. 1. 

Aqua Appia, 112, n. 3; Claudia, 199, n. 1. 

Aquae Sextiae, battle of, 223; colony at, 211, 
n. 3 ; 214, n. 4. 

Aquileja, 221. 

Aquillius, M\ 226. 

Arabia, 432, 459. 

Arausio, battle of, 222. 

Arcadius, emperor of the East, 492. 

Archelaus, 249. 

Archimedes, 146. 

Architecture, modelled on the basilica, 501, 
n. 6. 

Ariobarzanes, 

Ariovistus, 309. 

Aristobulus, 282. 

Aristotle, the philosopher, 116a. 

Arius, 490. 

Armenia, 278, 279 ; Lesser Armenia, a prov- 
ince, 283. n. 3. 

Arminius, 436. 

Army, organization of, 367, 368 ; pay of, 
374 ; in time of Augustus, 429. 

Armor, 23. 

Arrogatio, 52, n. 1. 

Artax&ta, 281. 

Aryan, 9, n. 3. 

As (coin), 22, n. 5, 194, n. 1. 

Asculum, battle of, 106. 



506 



IKDEX. 



Assidui, 22, n. 2, 387. 

Asellio, S. Sempronius, praetor, 240. 

Asia, a Roman province, 179. 

Asta, 3. 

Athenio, 226. 

Athens, 249. 

Attili invades Italy, 494. 

Atrium, 25, n. 1 ; 387. 

Atallan farces (Atellance Fabulce), 413, n. 1. 

Attalus, king of Pergainus, 204, n.5; 283, n. 3. 

Angnrs, 39. 

Augustus, 420, n. 6. See Octavius. 

Augusta Praetoria, 423. 

Aulus Gellius, 43, n. 1. 

Aurelian, emperor, 482. 

Aurelian law, 271. 

Aurelius, Marcus, emperor, 466. 

Auspicia, 88, 39 ; privata, pubtica, 72, n. 1 ; 
ex ccelo, 38, n. 2 . ex avibus, 38, n. 2 ; ex 
trepudiis ; ex quadrupedibus, 38, n. 2 ; ex 
dirts, 38, n. 2. 

B. 

Baths, 407. 

BaectUa, battle of, 148. 

Bajae, 262. 

Balearic slingers, 372. 

Ballistae, 380. 

Barbarians press upon the frontiers, 466 ; 
their confederations, 482, n. 2; their ir- 
ruptions into the provinces and Italy, 
484, 492, 498 ; their civilization, 498. 

Basitica, 286, 

Batavi, revolt of, 453. 

Bedriacum, 451 f. 

Belgic war, 310. 

Berenice, 425. 

Bibulus, M., consul with. Caesar, 304. 

Bifrons, 36. 

Bissextus, 339, n. 2. 

Boadicaea, 451, n. 1. 

Boarding-bridges, 121. 

Boji conquered, 103. 

Bonna Dea, sacrilege of Clodius, 306, n. 1. 

Bononia (Bologna), road to, 111. 

Books, 401. 

Bosporus, Cimmerian, 281. 

Brennus, 77, n. 1. 

Brundisium, 327 ; treaty of, 352. 

Bruttii, 6. 

Bruttium, 6, n. 2. 

Britain, invaded by Caesar, 310 ; second in- 
vasion, 310 : conquered by Claudius, 446; 
conquests extended by Vespasian, 454. 

Brutus, D., governor of Cisalpine Gaul, put 
to death, 341, n. 1 ; 348, n. 1. 

Brutus, 342; L. Junius, 341, n. 1 ; 342, 349. 

Brutus, M Junius, one of the conspirators, 
retires to Macedonia, 350 ; collects an 
army, 349 ; plunders the cities in Asia 
Minor, 349 ; crosses to Greece, 350; de- 
feated at Philippi, 350; kills himself, 350. 

Burchana, island of, 433. 

Burgundians, 493. 

Byzantium 158, 489. 



Caepio, commander at the battle of Arausio, 
222 ; gold of Tolosa, 227, n. 5; condemned 
to death, 222. 



Caesarea Augusta (Saragossa) founded, 430. 
n 1. 

Caesar, Augustus, his early career, 345 ; 
treaty with Antonius, 348. 

Caesar, Gajus (Caligula), 444; succeeds Tibe- 
rius, 444; death of, 445. 

Caesar, Gajus Julius, rise of, 301 ; quaestor, 

302 ; aeclile, 303 ; restores the trophies of 
Marius, 303 ; greatest man of antiquity, 

303 ; propraetor in Spain, 304 ; forms a 
cabal with Pompejus and Crassus, 304; 
consul, 304 ; carries an Agrarian and other 
laws, 304; proconsul, 305 ; intrigues with 
Clodius, 305 ; campaigns in Gaul, 398-314 ; 
renewal of the triumvirate, 316 ; rivalry 
of Pompejus, 318 ; Caesar's position, 
323 ; Caesar's ultimatum, 325 ; crosses 
the Rubicon, 325 ; legality of his 
course, 325; drives his opponents from 
Italy, 327 ; enters Rome, 328 ; conquers 
in Spain, 329 ; dictatorship. 330 ; crosses 
to Greece, 330 ; battle of 'Dyrrhachium, 
330 ; battle of Pharsalus, 330 ; Alexan- 
drine war, 331 ; conquers Pharnaces,332 ; 
returns to Rome, 333 ; battle of Thapsus, 
334 ; powers conferred, 335; his triumphs, 
336 ; imperator, 337 ; his work, 338 ; his 
policy, 338 ; Spanish war, 339 ; refuses the 
diadem, 340 ; conspiracy against him, 340; 
assassination, 341; his will, 344; his ob- 
sequies, 344 ; his debts, 362, n. 5. 

Caesar, L. Julius, consul, 236 ; in Social 
war, 237 ; proposes lex Julia, 237. 

Calabria, 6. 

Calendar, reformed, 339, n. 2. 

Caligula, emperor, 444. 

Calistus, Pallas, his great w r ealth, 262, 
n.5. 

Calpurnian law, 183, n. 1. 

Camillus, M Furius, 49, 76, n. 

Campagna, 7. 

Campania, 4 ; (felix), 4, n. 1. 

Campus Martius, 29, 254, n. 3. 

Cannae, 140 ; Romans defeated, 141 ; plan 
of battle, 141 ; plan of, 141. 

Cantabri conquered by Augustus, 430. 

Canuleian law, 72. 

Capitol, building of, 18, 300, n. 1. 

Capitolium, 14. 

Capua opens its gates to Hannibal, 142; 
siege of, 149 ; retaken by the Romans, 
149. 

Caracalla, emperor, 480. 

Carbo, Cn. Papirius, consul, 251, 253. 

Carrhae, 320. 

Carinus, emperor, 456, n. 1. 

Carthage, its trade, 117 ; government, 118 ; 
compared with Rome, 118 ; siege of, 170 ; 
captured by the Romans, 170 ; rebuilt, 
211, n.; capital of the Vandal kingdom, 
475; Carthaginians, their descent, 116a ; 
navy and army, 116a ; trade, 117. 

Cams, emperor, 482. 

Cassius, L. Longinus, lieutenant of Cras- 
sus, 319 ; departs to Mesopotamia, 319 ; 
leads the army to Carrhae, 320 ; retreats 
to Syria, 320 ; originates the conspiracy 
against Caesar, 341 ; departs to Syria, 344, 
n. 2 ; plunders the cities in the East, 
349; marches with Brutus to Greece, 



INDEX. 



507 



350 ; defeated at Philippi, 350 ; his death, 
350. 
Cassius, Spuria?, Agrarian law of, 62. 
Catillna, L. Sergius, early career, 285 ; first 
conspiracy, 285 ; second conspiracy, 286 ; 
accused by Cicero, 293 ; leaves Rome, 295; 
the conspirators betrayed, condemned 
and executed, 295-7 ; defeat and death, 
298. 
Catilinian orations, date of, 297, n. 1. 
Cato, M. Porcius, sent to Spain, 174 ; pre- 
fers charges against Galba. 176 ; efforts 
for reform, 189.; consul, 190 : resists the 
repeal of the Oppian law, 190; hostility to 
theScipios, 190 ; his censorship, 191 ; his 
avarice, 191 ; his opposition to Hellenic 
inflaences, 192. 
Catapulta, 380. 
Cato, M. P. Uticensis, 334. 
Catulus, Q. Lutatius, consul, 263 ; engages 
the Oimbri, 224 ; his death by order of 
Marius, 246. 
Catulus, Q. Lutatius (son), is to rebuild the 

Capitoline temple, 300. 
Castra, 375 f . 

Caudine Forks, battle at, 99. 
Celtiberians, war with, 175. 
Censorship, 73. 

Census, 22, 73, 201 n. 2, 208 n. 2, 246 n. 2. 
Centurions, pay of, 374. 
Cethegus, G. Cornelius, 286. 
Chalons, Huns defeated at, 494, 497. 
Christianity, 475, 490, 501. 
Christians, persecution of, 476. 
Cicero, M. Tullius, birth and education, 287; 
first appearance at the bar, 289; studies at 
Athens, 289 ; impeaches Verres, 290 ; his 
political consistency, 291; consul, 291; de- 
fence of Eabirius, 292; prepares to oppose 
Catiline, 293; denounces Catiline, 294 ; ar- 
rests the conspirators, 295 ; third oration, 
296; speech in the senate on the fate of the 
conspirators, 296 ; orders the execution 
of the conspirators, 297 ; position of 
Cicero, 298 ; hostile to Clodius, 306, n. ; 
his banishment, 307 ; his recall, 316 ; tries 
to effect a reconciliation between Caesar 
and Pompejus, 326 ; joins the assassins 
of Caesar, 343 ; acts with Octavius against 
Antonius, 346 ; his activity, 347 ; his 
Philippics, 347, n. 1 ; his death, 348. 
Cilicia, Roman province, 283, n. 3. 
Cimbri, 222 ; cross the Jura, 222 ; enter 
Spain, 222 ; enter Italy, 223 ; defeated by 
Catulus, 224 ; destroyed by Marius, 224. 
Cineas, Pyrrhus's envoy to Rome, 106. 
Cincinnatus, 65, n. 5; dictator, 65, n., 74. 
Cinna, L., consul, 243 ; driven from Rome, 
245 ; associated with Marius, 246 ; mur- 
dered by his soldiers, 252. 
Circus Maximus, 18, n. 3 ; Flaminius, 41 ; 

games of, 408. 
Cisalpine Gaul, a province, 257. 
Cives Romani, number of, 239, n. 2. 
Civllis, 453. 

Civilization (primitive), 13. 
Civitdies fcederdtce, 182, n. 7 ; libera, 182, 

n. 7. 
Claudius, consul, his impiety, 126, n. 2. 
Claudius, emperor, 443, 



Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, 332 ; meets An- 
tonius in Cilicia, 351 ; queen of the East, 
356 ; her wit and beauty, 356 ; excites 
Antonius against Octavius, 356 ; war de- 
clared against her, 357 ; defeated at Acti- 
um, 358 ; deceives Antonius, 359 ; cannot 
deceive Octavius, 360 ; her death, 360. 
Clients, 20. 

Clivus Capitolinus, 17, n. 5. 
Cloaca Maxima, 17, n. 2, 30. 
Clodius Pulcher, P., excites a mutiny in 
the army of Lucullus, 279 ; profanes the 
mysteries of BonaDea, 306, n. 1; tribune, 
305; his legislation, 306; procures the ban- 
ishment of Cicero, 307; killed by Milo, 320 
Clusium, besieged, 77, n.; battle of, 253. 
Cohors, 182, n. 3. 
Cohorts, 372 f.; tents of, 378. 
Collatia, Collatinus, 46, n. 
Colline Gate, battle at, 253. 
Colonia Agrippinensis, 446, n. 2. 
Colonies, 92b, 110, n. 
Colonization, 110. 
Colosseum, 453', 456, n. 1. 
Comes, 489. 
Comitia centuridta, 23, 51, n., 55, 86, 87; 

change in the order of voting, 189, n. 1. 
Ccmitia curiata, 19, 51, n.; calata, 37, 52, 

n., 55, 86. 
Comitia tributa, 64, n., 71, 86, 87. 
Ccmmerciijus, 97, n. 1. 
CommSdus, emperor, 479. 
Concilium tributum, 58, n., 60, n., 64, 64, n., 

70, 83, 83, n.. 84, 86, 87. 
Concilium curidtum, 58, n. ; patrum, 20, n. 1. 
Concilium populi, 78, n. 2. 
Connubium, 72, 97 ; jus connubii, 97, n. 1. 
Constantine, emperor, 487 ; his reforms, 
488 ; makes Christianity the state relig- 
ion, 490 ; removes the capital to Constan- 
tinople, 489 ; his character, 490. 
Constantius, emperor, 487. 
Consul sine collega, 51, n. 3 ; suffectus, 54, 

n. 3. 
Consuls, 50, 51, n. 3 ; how elected, 50 ; du- 
ties, 50 ; invested with dictatorial pow- 
ers, 212, n. 4. 
Cooptatio, 21, n 7, 58, n. 1, 101, n. 
Corfinium, capital of the "Newltaly/^O. 
Corinth, captured and destroyed, 166. 
Coriolanus, G. Marcius, story of, 60. 
Corn, largesses of, 209, 227, 3C6, 338, 427. 
Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, 202 ; how 

she bore her misfortunes, 214, n. 
Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, married to 

Caesar, 302 ; her death, 303. 
Cornelice leges, 257, n., 258, n., 259, n. 
Correctores, 489. 
Corsica, 8 ; a province, 128, n. 
Cotta, G., 290. 
Crassus, L. Licinius, 232. 
Crassus, M. Licinius, his great wealth, 262, 
n. 5 ; praetor, 266 ; takes command against 
the gladiators, 266 ; his ovation, 268; con- 
sul, 268: his popularity, 272; Crassus 
fears Pompejus, 300 ; Crassus and Caesar, 
304 ; one of the triumvirs, 304 ; his second 
consulship, 317; proconsul in Syria, 318; 
his defeat and death, 320. 
CremOna, 131. 



508 



INDEX. 



Cretan bowmen, 372. 
Crete, a Roman province, 283, n. 3. 
Ctesiphon captured by Trajan, 460. 
Curatores tribumn, 58, n. 1, 63, n. 1. 
Curia, 15, n. 4, 19 ; curia Hostilia, 18, 29. 
Curio, 35 ; maximus, 35. 
Curio, Trebonius, 324, 329. 
Curius, M' and Pyrrhus, 108. 
Curule chair, 185, n. 2 ; offices, 185. 
Curtius Mettius, legend of, 28. 
Cynocephalse, battle at, 160. 
Cyzicus, 158. 



Dacia, conquered by Trajan, 459. 

Dacebalus demands tribute, 459 ; his defeat, 
459. 

Debtors, oppression of, 55, 56, n. 1. 

Decemvirs appointed, 67; their laws, 67; 
re-elected, 68; their tyranny, 683 mnrder 
of G. Dentatus, 69 ; Virginia slain by her 
father, 69 ; expulsion of the decemvirs, 
70. 

Dacians, 459. 

Decius, emperor, 481. 

Decius Mus devotes himself to death, 96, n. ; 
his son, 101. 

Decumce, 182, n. 8; limited to Africa and 
Sardinia, 338, n. 1. 

Decuriones, 439. 

Dejotarus, tetrarch of Galatia, 283, n. 

De'lat0res,442, 454. 

Demaratus of Corinth, 45, n. 

Demetrius of Pharos, 129. 

Denarius, value of, 22, 11. 5, 191, n. 1. 

Dictator, 54 ; his duties, 116b. 

Dictatorship, 212, n. 4. 

Didius Julianus, emperor, 

DiodOrus, 116a. 

Dies fasti, 40, n. 1, 84, n. 4; comitiales, 40, 
n. 3, 84, n. 4. 

Diocletian, emperor, 484 ; reforms, 485 ; ab- 
dicates, 487. 

Dion Cassius, the historian, 116a. 

Divinatio, 291, n. 2. 

Divfcores, 293, n. 1. 

Dolabella, Cn., impeached by Caesar, 302. 

Domitian, emperor, 456; his cruelty, 457; 
he is worshipped as a god, 457 ; the last 
of the fc * twelve Caesars, 1 ' 457 ; Tacitus and 
Domitian, 457. 

Domus regia, 35, 41 ; publica, 37. 

Drapana, 125. 

Drama, Roman, 413. 

Dress for men, 404 ; for women, 406. 

Drusus, M. Livius, outbids Gajus Gracchus 
for popular favor, 211 . 

Drusus, M. Livius, son of the former Dru- 
sus, 233 ; his efforts for reform, 233 ; his 
laws, 234 ; his proposal to give the allies 
the franchise, 234 ; his death, 235. 

Drusus Germanicus, 432, 440. 

Duomri sacrorum, 38. 

Duces, 489. 

Duillius, Roman admiral, 121. 

Dyrrhachium, 330. 

E. 



EburSnes, revolt of the, 311, 



EcnOmus, 122. 

Education, 399. 

Egypt, condition of, 156 ; the succession in, 

332, n. 1 ; a Roman province, 360. 
Elagabalus, emperor, 480. 
Encampment, system of, 375. 
Engines, military, 379. 
Enna, 180. 
Ennius, 400. 
Eporedia, 221. 

Equestrian order, rise of the, 367 ; 210, n. 6. 
Equites, 22, n. 8. 
Etruria, 3. 
Etruscans, 11 ; their civilization, 11 ; their 

art, 11 ; their influence on the Latins, 12 ; 

their origin, 12 ; defeated at Lake Vadi- 

mo, 103. 
Eugenius, emperor, 492. 
Eumenes, king of Pergamus, 179. 
Eunus, the leader in the Servile war, 180. 
Excavations, 15, n. 1, 17, n. 4, 31. 



F. 

Fabian gens and Vejentines, 63; all slain 
at the Cremera, 63. 

Fabius Maximus, appointed pro-dictator, 
138; his policy, 138; recaptures Taren- 
tum, 150. 

Fabius Pictor, 25. 

Fasti consulares, 82, n. 1. 

Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius, 465, n. 1. 

Fausttllus, 22. 

Ferice imperatival, 242, n. 6 ; concepts, 242, 
n. 6 ; publicce, 242, n. 6 ; statlvce, 242, n. 6 ; 
Latinaz, 35. 

Fetiales, college of, 41. 

Fimbria, defeated and slain, 251. 

Fiscus, 420, n. 4, 462, n. 2, 486. 

Flaccus Valerius, 190, 256. 

Flamen, 36; Dialis, 36, 43. 

Flamininus, T. Quinctius, commander in 
the second Macedonian war, 160; gains 
a victory at Cynocephalae, 160 ; proclaims 
the independence of the Greek states, 
161. 

Flaminius, G., his Agrarian law, 129 ; de- 
feats the Gauls at Telamon, 131 ; defeated 
and slain at Lake Trasimenus, 137. 

Florian, emperor, 483. 

Fornix Fabianus, 215, n. 2. 

Forum Romanum, 17 ; Boarium, 44, n. 

Fragellce, 208. 

Franks, kingdom, 493. 

Frentanians, 5. 

Fulvia, mistress of Q. Curius, 293. 

Fulvia, wife of Antonius, 349 ; creates dis- 
turbance in Italy. 852. 

Fulvius Nobilior, M., captures Ambracia, 
163. 

Funerals, 415. 

G. 

Gabinius, A., tribune, 273. 

Galatia, 283, n. 

Galba, Sulpicius, his treachery, 176. 

Galba, emperor, 451. 

Galerius, emperor, 486. 

Gallia Cisalpma, 3, n., 305, a, 1, 



INDEX. 



509 



Gallia Transalpina, 305, n. 1. 

Gallienus, emperor (see Analysis, xxvii). 

Gallus ^Elius, 432. 

Gaul, conquered by Caesar, 308-315. 

Gauls in Italy, 76 ; march against Rome, 
77 ; battle of the Allia, 77 ; they retire, 
77 ; Livy's account, 77. 

Gens, 46, n. 

Gentes, 18, n. 7. 

Genabrum, 482. 

Genseric, 494. 

Gepidae, kingdom of, 495. 

Germanicus adopted by Tiberius, 435 ; 
quells a mutiny on the Rhenish frontier, 
441 ; his campaigns in Germany, 441 ; his 
death, 442. 

Geta, 480. 

Glabrio, M. Acilius, 280. 

Gladiatorial games, 409. 

Glaucia, a demagogue, 227. 

Gordian, emperor, 481. 

Goths, 4S2, 485, 492. 

Gracchus, Gajus, proqusestor in Sardinia, 
203 ; tribune, 208 ; his laws, 209 ; Drusus 
outbids him for the popular favor, 211 ; 
his death, 212. 

Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius, his con- 
nections, 201 ; his service in Spain, 202 ; 
tribune, 202 ; his measures for reform, 
202; his death, 205. 

Graecia Magna, 103. 

Grcecostdsis, 386, n. 1. 

Gratian, emperor, 492. 

Greece, 158. 

Greek colonies in Italy, 103. 

H. 

Hadrian, emperor, 460; he returns to the 
policy of Augustus, 460 ; his travels, 462; 
his buildings^ 462 ; his villa at Tibur, 462. 

Hamilcar Barcas, 126 ; takes a position on 
Mt. Eryx, 126 ; he departs to Spain, 128 ; 
his conquests, 132; death, 133. 

Hannibal succeeds Hasdrubal, 144; attacks 
Saguntum, 133; returns to New Carthage, 
134 ; crosses the Ebro and Pyrenees, 135 ; 
reaches the Rhone, 135 ; his route over 
the Alps, 135 ; arrives in N. Italy, 135 ; 
takes the capital of the Taurinians, 135. 
skirmish on the Ticinus, 136 ; defeats 
Scipio and Sempronius at the Trebia, 

137 ; crosses the Apennines and reaches 
the Upper Amo, 137 ; defeats G. Flamin- 
ius, 137 ; his treatment of Roman pris- 
oners, 138 ; his plan for the campaign, 

138 ; eludes Fabius, 139 ; wins the battle 
of Cannae, 141 ; obtains Capua, 142; takes 
Tarentum, 149 ; his brilliant campaign to 
relieve Capua, 149 ; he marches to Rome, 

149 ; retires to Southern Italy, 149 ; loses 
Silapia, 150 ; loses Tarentum, 150 ; 
marches northward to join his brother, 

150 ; recalled from Italy, 152 ; defeated 
at Zama, 154 ; flies to Antiochus, 161 ; 
then to Prusias, 162 ; his death, 162. 

Hanno, 143. 

Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, left in 

Spain, 144; defeated by Scipio, 144; 

marches from Spain to Italy, 150; de- 



feated in the battle of Metaurus, 151; his 

death, 151. 
Hastdti, 368, 369, ff. 
flaruspices, 42. 

Helvetii conquered by Caesar, 309. 
Heraclea, battle of, 105. 
Hereclium, 22, n. 6. 
Hernicans, 3 : treaty with Rome, 62. 
Hiero, king of Syracuse, 119 ; sent against 

the Mamertines, 119 ; defeated by the 

Romans, 120; makes peace with Rome, 

1^0 ; his death, 145. 
Hirtius, A., consul, 347. 
Hispania Citerior and Ulterior, 181. 
Honorius, emperor, 492. 
Horatius (Horace), 4, n. 2, 7. 
Hortensian law, 81. 
Hortensius, Q,., 81. 
Hortensius the orator, 291. 
House, Roman, 387 ; furniture of, 389 ; 

plan of, 390 ; method of warming, 391 ; of 

lighting, 392. 
Huns, 492. 
Hyrcanus, 282. 



Ides, 259, n. 3. 

Indo-European, 9, n. 3. 

Iapygians, 9. 

Icilian law, 59. 

Ignobilis, 185, n. 3. 

Ilerda, 328. 

Illyria and Illyrians, 130, n. 

Illyrian wars, 128, 132. 

Ulyricum, 130, n. ; a province, 182. 

Interrex, 20, n. 1, 24. 

Iranian plateau, 9, n. 3. 

Istria, 

Italia, 1, n. 3. 

Italic, 9, n. 2. 

Italians proper, 9 

Italy in early times, 1 ; geography of, 1 ; 

divisions, 1 ; early inhabitants, 9. 
Imperator, 252, n. 2, 337, 418, 485. 
Imperium, 50, n. 1 ; consular e, 51, n. 4; do- 

mat, 53, n. 1 ; militice, 53, n. 1 ; plenum, 

49, 337, n. 3. 
Instruction, 400. 



Janiciilus, 14 ; flag on, 40, 84. 

Janus, 35 ; temple of, 36 ; closed for the 
third time, 361. 

Josephus, the historian, 453. 

Jovian, emperor, 491. 

.Indices, 50, n. 6, 204, 9. 

Jugerum, 22, n. 4. 

Jugurtha serves under Scipio, 216 : his in- 
trigues for the throne, 216 • bribes the 
commissioners, 216 ; puts Adherbal to 
death, 217: war declared against him, 
217: comes to Rome, 218; procures the 
assassination of Massiva, 218; defeated 
by Metellus, 218 ; taken prisoner, 221 : 
carried to Rome, 221. 

Julia, aunt of Caesar, 303. 

Jnlia, daughter of Caesar, 320. 

Julia, daughter of Augustus, 435. 

Julian, emperor, 491. 

Julian laws, 337, 



510 



IKDEX. 



Juniores, 23. 

Juno Morteta, temple of, 214, n. 1. 

Jupiter, 33, n. 3. 

Jupiter CapitoHnus, 37; temple of, 18, 

n. 4 ; Stator, 28, n. 1 ; Latiaris, 34. 
Jus imagmum, 73, n., 186. 
Jus auspiciorum, 24, n. 1 ; auxilii, 58, n. 4 ; 

intercendi, 58, n. 4 ; commercii, 14, n. 6 ; 

connubii, 109, n. 3 ; exilii, 14, n. 7 ; cum 

plebe agendi, 59, n. 3 ; suffragii, 109, n. 3; 

provocations, 52, n. 7, 109, n. 3; vike 

necisque, 20, n. 1. 
Justitium, 242, and n. 7. 
Juvenal, the poet, 457. 
Jus Latii, 237, n. 4. 

K. 

Kaeso Quinctius, 65, n. 5. 
Kalends, 259, n. 3. 

Kings (regal period), 27 if. ; Caesar rules as 
king, 337. 

L,. 

Labienus, 313, 331, 355, n. 1. 

Laelius, 201. 

Languages, Romance, 499. 

Larcius, T., 54. 

Latin cities, 94, n., 95, 4. 

Latin confederacy dissolved, 96. 

Latin war, revolt of the Latin league, 95 ; 
battle of Mt. Vesuvius, 96 ; defeat of the 
Latins, 96. 

Latins, 3, 116, n. 7. 

Latium (vetus), its limits, 3 ; Latium ad- 
jectum, 3, n. ; incorporated with the 
Roman state, 95, n. 5. 

Law, system of Roman, 67. 

Lectio sendius, 21, n. 8, 88, n. 2. 

Legatio libera, 206, n. 2. 

Legends of early Rome, 26. 

Legatus, 372, 488. 

Legion, 365, 371, 372; number in time of 
Constantine, 489. 

Lex, 64, n. 2 (defined) ; JEmilia, 73, n. 3 ; 
centuriata, 74, n. 1 ; Calpurnia de repe- 
tundis, 183, n. 1 ; Cornelia de tribunicia 
potestate, 257, n. 1 ; anndlis, 185, n. 4; 
curiata, 20, n. 1, 24, n. 3, 50, n. 2, 85, n. 3 ; 
a L. Bruto repetitio, 50, n. 3 ; de dicta- 
tore creando, 256, n. 1, 54, n. 1 ; sacrata, 
57; Fabia de numero secutorum, 283, n. 3 ; 
Horlensia, 85, n. 1 ; judicaria, 210, n. 6 ; 
Publilia, 85, n. 1 ; repetundarum, 211, n. 
7 ; Bupilia, 181, n. 1 ; Semnronia, 293, n. 
4 ; de sacrando, 53, n. 7 ; Veleria, 53. n 5. 

Lepidus, M., consul, 262 ; favors the repeal 
of the Sullan laws, 263 ; collects an 
army, 263; defeated, 263 ; flies to Sar- 
dinia, 263 ; his death; 263. 

Lepidus, M., one of the triumvirs, 348, 354 

Letters, how written, 403 ; Cicero's to At- 
ticus, 290. 

Licinian laws, 80 ; revival of, 205, 338. 

Licinius, emperor, 488, n. 1. 

Lictors, 47, n. 1. 

Lilybapum, siege of. 125. 

Livia Drusilla, 435 ; third wife of Augustus, 
434, n. 1. 

Livius (Livy), the historian, 259, n. 2. 



Locupletes, 22, n. 3. 

Locusta, 448. 

Londinium, 446. 

Longlnus, Q. Cassius, 325. 

Lucania, 5. 

Luceres, 16, n. 2. 

Lucretia, story of, 45, n. 1. 

Lucullus, L., conducts the war against 
Mithridates, 276 ; his reforms in Asia. 278; 
his unpopularity, 278 ; defeats Tigranes' 
278 ; superseded by Pompejus, 280. 

Ludi Maxima 18, n. 3. 

Luna, last Italian colony sent to, 200. n. 1. 

Lusitanians, 176. 

Lustrum, 24, 73, n. 3. i 

Luxury, 262, 469 ; standard of, 470. 

M. 

Macedonia, kingdom of, 156 ; a province, 
167. 

Macedonian wars, 158, 159, 63. 

Macrinus, emperor, 481. 

Maecenas, minister of Augustus, 354, 434. 

Maelius, Sp. (slain), 74. 

Magestas, law of, 442 ; defined, 258, n. 6. 

Magister equitum, 49, n, 3, 54. 

Magna Graecia, 103. 

Magnesia, battle of, 162. 

Mamertines, 118. 

Manlius, Capitolinus, 78. 

Manilius, G., tribune, 280. 

Manilian law, 280. 

Manipuli, 369, n. 3. 

Manlius Torquatus, 96, n. 2. 

Marcellus, M., praetor, 145 ; captures Syra- 
cuse, 115 ; slain in Lucania, 150. 

MarcianOple, 492. 

Marcius. See Coriolanus. 

Magister equitum, 54. 489. 

Magister peditum, 489. 

Marcomanni, 468. 

Marius, G., rise of, 219 ; services in Spain, 
177 ; tribune, 219, n. 5 ; his reforms, 371 ; 
accompanies Metellus to Africa, 219 ; 
elected consul, 221 ; finishes the Jugur- 
thine war, 221; elected consul for the ■ 
second time, 222 ; defeats the Teutones, 
223; he falls into the hands of the dema- 
gogues, 227 ; loses reputation. 229 ; re- 
tires from Rome, 229 ; takes part in the 
Social war, 236 ; intrigues to obtain the 
command against Mithridates, 241 ; es- 
capes from Rome, 243 ; his wanderings, 
243 ; returns to Rome, 243 ; proscribes 
the nobility, 245 ; consul for the seventh 
time, 246; his death, 246. 

Marius, the Younger, 253. 

Marriage, 395. 

Marrucini, 5. 

Marsians, 5. 

Marsic or Social war, 236. 

Martial, the poet, 401. 

Masinissa forms a treaty with Scipio, 153 ; 
makes forays into the Carthaginian ter- 
ritory, 169 ; aids Scipio, 169. 

Massilia, 308, 329. 

Maxentius declared emperor. 488, n. 1. 

Maximin, emperor, 481. 

Maximian, 486. 



INDEX. 



511 



Maximus Velerius, 457, n. 4. 

Meals, 392. 

Medical men, 397. 

Medimnus, value of, 194, n. 1. 

Mediterranean sea infested by pirates, 273. 

Memmias, G., 218. 

Menenius Agrippa, 353, 419. 

Mesopotamia (province), 459. 

Messalllna, 448. 

Messana, 119. 

Metaurus, battle of, 151. 

Metellus Celer, 298. 

Metellus Creticus, 299. 

Metellus, L., victory at Panormus, 124. 

Metellus, Q., victories in Macedonia, 

Metellus (Numidicus) consul, 219; conducts 
the war in Africa, 219 ; superseded by 
Marius, 220. 

Micipsa, 216. 

Misenian villa of Cornelia, value of, 262, 
n. 3. 

Milan (Mediolanum), 131, 489. 

Milan, edict of, 501. 

Military system, 113, 365. 

Military roads, 111, 425. 

Military tribunes, with consular power, 72, 
73, n. 1. 

Milo, 320. 

Mithridates, king of Pontus, 247 ; his con- 
quests, 248 ; invades Asia, 248 ; massacre 
of Italians, 249 ; defeated by Sulla, 250 ; 
makes peace with Rome, 250; defeats 
Murena, 276; invests Cyzicus, 276; re- 
tires to Armenia, 277; returns to Pontus, 
279 ; defeated, 281 ; escapes to the Cim- 
merian BospSrus, 281 ; his death. P-83. 

Mithridatic wars, first, 247; second, 276; 
third, 276. 

Modius, value of, 209, n. 3; modius of 
wheat, cost of, 227, n. 2. 

Moesogoths, 493, n. 1. 

Mons Sacer, 57. 

Morini, 310. 

Mt. Soracte, 7. 

Mucius ScsevQla, 47. 

Multce, dictio, 53, n. 3 ; 67, n. 1. 

Mulvian bridge, 296. 

Municipia, 97, n. 1, 110, n. 1. 

Murena, L., invades the territories of Mith- 
ridates, 276. 

Mus, Decius, 76, 101. 

Mutlna, 347. 

Mutiny of b. c. 342, 82. 

Mylse, battle of, 121. 

N. 
Nsbvius, 400. 
Naissus, battle of, 482. 
Names, 395. 
Naples, bay of, 262. 
Narcissus, his great wealth, 262, n. 5. 
Naslca, Scipio, 205. 
NaulSehus, battle of, 353. 
Navy, Roman, 104, 121 ; Etruscan, 121 ; of 

the Greek towns, 121 ; Carthaginian, 117, 

121. 
Neoplatonism, 500, n. 1. 
Nepos, Metellus, 299. 
Nero, consul, joins Salinator and defeats 

Hasdrubal, 151. 



Nepos, emperor, 495. 

Nero, emperor, 448. 

Nerva, emperor, 458. 

New men. See noma homo. 

Nexum, 56. n. 1. 

Nicomedes driven from his kingdom, 248 ; 

restored, 429. 
Nicop51is, battle of, 281. 
Nobilitas, 185, n. 3. 
Nobility, 85. 
Nones, 259. n. 3. 
Noreja, 222, n. 3. 
Norbanus, A., consul, 252. 
Novum Comum, 304, n. 6, 323. 
Novus homo, 185, n. 3, 2s7, n. 1. 
Numa Pompilius, 30. 
Numantine war, 177. 
Numidia, 177. 
Numitor, 26. 
Nundince, 84, n. 4, 85, 229, n. 2. 

O. 

Oboli, value of, 194, n. 1. 

Occupatio, 61, n. 9. 

Ochlocracy, 194, n. 4. 

Octavia, wife of Antonius, 352. 

Octavius, heir of Caesar, 345 ; comes to 
Rome, 345 ; unites with Cicero, 346 ; col- 
lects an army, 347; consul, 347; forms 
the second triumvirate, 348 ; proscrip- 
tions, 348 ; defeats Brutus, 350 ; agree- 
ment with Antonius, 351; settles the con- 
dition of Italy, 352; renews the treaty with 
Antonius, 352; defeats S. Pompejus, 
353 ; restores order in Italy, 354 ; rupture 
with Antonius, 357 ; defeats Antonius, 
358 ; returns to Rome, 360 • sole ruler, 
360 ; his policy, 417 ; disguises his rule 
under republican forms, 418 : his artful 
policy, 419 ; imperator, 419 ; powers and 
titles conferred upon him, 420 ; death of, 
437. 

Odenathus, 482, n. 1. 

Odoacer, 495. 

CEnotria, 5, n. 4. 

Ogulnian law, 81. 

Oppian law, 190. 

Optimates, 262. 

Oral tradition, 25. 

Orchestra, 411, n. 4, 413, n. 2 ; assigned to 
senators, 186. 

Orestes, emperor, 495. 

Osci, 10. 

Ostia, 7. 

Ostrogoths, 495, n. 1. 

Otho, emperor, 451. 

Otho, Roscius, 292, 294, n. 2. 

Ovatio, 181, n. 2. 

Orleans, 482, n. 3. 

P. 

Padus (river), 3. 

Paganism. 500. 

Palaeop51is, 97. 

Palla, 406. 

Pallas, a freedman, 262, n. 5. 

Pallium, 405. 

Palmyra, 482. 

Pannonia, 130, 



512 



IKDEX. 



Panormus, 124. 

Pansa, consul, 347. 

Papyrus, 402. 

Pater familias, 18, n. 5; patrdtrus, 41. 

Patria potestas, 18, u. 6. 

Paterculus Vellejus, 457. 

Parthians defeat Crassus, 319. 

Patres familias patric. gentium, 19, n. 8, 
20, n. 1 and 6, 38, n. 1, 50, n. 2 ; conscripti, 
52. 

Patres majorum et minorum gentium, 
22. 

Patricians, meaning of the word, 20 ; they 
alone have political rights, 20 ; contest 
between the patricians and plebeians, 55 ; 

Patron, 20. 

Patronus, 20, n. 5. 

Patrum auctoritas, 20, n. 1, 21, n. 6, 64, n. 
2 ; transferred to the senate, 83, n. 5. 

Paulus, iEmilius. consul, 323 ; bribed by 
Caesar, 323, 262, n. 5. 

Paulus, L. iEmilius, conqueror of Perseus, 
164. 

Paulus, spelling of, 132, n. 

Pedites, 22, n. 7. 

Paelignians, 5. 

Pergamus, 179. 

Perperna serves under Sertorius in Spain, 
264 ; procures his assassination, 264 ; de- 
feated by Pompejus, 264. 

Perseus succeeds Philip, king of Macedo- 
nia, 166 ; defeated at Pydna, 167. 

Peregnni dediticii, 21, n. 3. 

Persius, 484. 

Pertinax, emperor, 479. 

Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, 283; con- 
spires against his father, 283 ; defeated by 
Caesar, 333. 

Philip, emperor, 481. 

Philip V., king of Macedonia, 132 ; sends 
ambassadors to Hannibal, 159 ; takes 
Orlcum and Apollonia, 159 ; peace with 
Rome, 159; prepares for war against 
Rome, 159 ; unites with Antiochus to 
dismember Egypt, 160 ; Rome declares 
war against him, 160 ; defeated at the 
battle of Cynocephalae, 160 ; harshly 
treated by the Romans, 163 ; his death, 
163. 

Phillipi, battle at, 349 ; treaty of, 351. 

Phalanx, 205. 

Pictor, Fabius, 25. 

Phoenicians, 116a, 117. 

Phaartes, king of the Parthians, 281. 

Philosophy, 193, 500. 

Piracy, 272. 

Pirates, war with, 275. 

Piso, 297. 

Pius, Antoninus, emperor, 464. 

Placentia. colony at, 131 ; taken by Han- 
nibal, 136. 

Plague, 466. 

Plebiscltum, 58, n. 3, 64, n. ; Atinium, 88, 
n. 2 ; Genucium, 82, n. 5 ; Icilium, 59, 66 ; 
Mcenium, 85, n. 3. 

Plebeians, Plebs, origin of, 21, n. 2 ; their 
rights, 21 ; contests with the patricians, 
54. 

Pliny, 112. 

Plutarch, 202, n. 5 ; 228. n. 4 ; 211, n. 3. 



Po (river), boundary of Northern Italy, 
237, n. 4. 

Pollio, 360. 

Polybius, 27, n. 1 ; 164, n. 2. 

Pomerium. 15, 27, 184, n. 1 ; extended by 
Sulla, 257 ; by Claudius, 447, n. 1. 

Pompaedius Silo, 235. 

Pompejopolis, 275. 

Pompejus Strabo, 236. 

Pompejus Cn. (Pompey), assists Sulla, 252; 
takes command in Spain, 263 ; sides with 
the popular party, 264 ; ends the war in 
Spain, 264; cuts to pieces a body of 
gladiators, 266 ; consul, 277 : restores the 
tribunitian power, 268 ; puts an end to 
piracy in the Mediterranean, 275 ; ends 
the Mithridatic war, 281 ; his return to 
Rome, 283 ; his triumph, 300 ; forms a 
cabal with Caesar and Crassus, 304 ; mar- 
ries Julia, Caesar's daughter, 306 ; rules 
the capita], 315; renews the triumvirate, 
316; his second consulship, 317; leans 
towards the senatorial party, 318 ; sole 
consul, 321 ; rupture with Caesar, 324 ; 
retreats from Rome, 328; besieged at 
Dyrrhachium, 330 ; defeated atPharsalus, 
331 ; his death, 331. 

Pompejus Sextus, master of the sea, 351, 
353 ; defeated and flies to the East, 353. 

Pontes, voting bridges, 219, n. 5. 

Pontifex, 40, n. 9 ; maxlmus, 25, 37, 41. 

Pontiffs, college of, 40. 

Pontius, G., defeats the Romans, 99; de- 
feated and put to death, 112. 

Pontus, kingdom of, 247 ; a Roman prov- 
ince, 283, n. 3. 

Poplic51a, 53. 

Populares, 202. n. 5, 203, n. 2. 

Population (see Census), decline of, 472 ; of 
the empire, 473, n. 1. 

Popiclus, meaning of, 20 ; change of mean- 
ing, 81. 

Poppaea Sablna, wife of Nero, 449. 

Porcian laws, 184, n. 1. 

Porcius Cato, M. See Cato. 

Porsenna, Lars, aids Tarquinius, 47; makes 
peace with Rome, 48. 

Porta, 376. 

Portus, Itius, 310, n. 3; mugionis, 28, n. 1. 

Possessio, 61, n. 10. 

Praenesti, 14, 253. 

Prcefectus urbi, 424, n. 4; juri dicundo, 97, 
n. 1. 

Praetor, office of, created, 80 ; his duty, 
81 ; increase in the number of, 182 ; ur- 
bdnus, 81, n. 2. 

Praetors or consuls, 50, n. 5, 70, n. 2. 

Praefectures, 483, n..2. . 

Princeps senatus, 81, n. 3. 

Principes, 262. 

Probus, emperor, 482. 

Proconsul, 98, 182. 

Propraetors, 182. 

Proscriptions, 245, 254, 348. 

Prothyrum, 388, n. 2. 

Provincia, defined, 128, n. 3. 

Provincial system, 128 ; extended, 181. 

Provinces, number of, 128 ; how governed, 
128; number in the time of Sulla, 257; 
number in time of Caesar, 338, n. 1 : seiv 



INDEX. 



513 



atorial and imperial, 419; number in 
time of Augustus, 420, n. 1 ; number in 
time of Constantine, 489. 

Provocatio, 52, n. 7; 211, 184, n. 1. 

Prusias, king of Bithynia. 162. 

Publilian law of Volero, 63. 

Publilian laws, 82. 

Publico, ni, 182, n. 8. 

Punic war, first, 117 ; second, 132 ; third, 
167. 

Puzzolana, 4, n. 3. 

Pydna, battle of, 163. 

Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, 105 ; invited *by 
the Tarentines to assist them against the 
Romans, 105 ; gains a victory at Hera- 
clea, 105 ; at Asculum, 106 ; crosses to 
Sicily, 107 ; returns to Tarentum, 108 ; 
defeated at Beneventum, 108 ; departs to 
Greece, 108. 

a. 

Qucestio perpetua, 258, n. 3, 291, n. 1 and 2 ; 

inter secarios, 289, n. 3. 
Qucestores ozrarii, 53, n. 4; urbance, 74, n. 

2 ; parricidii, 53, n. 4. 
QusestOres, 53 ; elected by the people, 71 ; 

number increased, 257, 337, n. 4. 
Quintilian, the rhetorician, 474. 
Quintius, P., defended by Cicero, 289. 
Quirltes, 15, n. 4. 

R. 

Rabirius defended by Cicero, 292. 

Ram nes, 14. 

Rasennse, 11. 

Regia, 386. 

Eegia potestas, 19, n. 2, 

Regillus, Lake, battle of, 48. 

Regium concilium, 19, n. 5; imperium, 19, 
n. 3. 

Regulus, M. Atilius, invades Africa, 123 ; 
defeated, 123 ; sent to Rome with an 
embassy to negotiate a treaty, 125, n. 3 ; 
returns and is put to death, 125, n. 1. 

Religio, 33, 91, n. 1 ; state religion, 35. 

Remus, 27. 

Repetundce, 175, 183, n. 1. 

Republic established, 50. 

Revenue, 184, n. 2 ; how collected, 182, n. 
8. 

Rex, 19, n. 1 ; sacrijiculus,41, 42 ; rexsacro 
rum, 81, 2. 

Rhadagaisus, 493. 

Rhea Silvia, 26. 

Ricimer, Count, 495. 

Rights, public and private, 109, n. 3. 

Rhine, warfare on, 432. 

Rhodes, 158 ; school of rhetoric at, 400. 

Roads, military, 425. See vice. 

Rogatio, 64, n. 2. 

Roma quadrata, 15. 

Roman history, sources of, 25. 

Roman law, 67. 

Rome, a Latin settlement, 14 ; its situation, 
14; its growth, 15; capital of Latium, 
16; Livy's account of its origin, 26 ; the 
king, 30; burnt by the Gauls, 77; sacked 
by Alaric, 493 ; population in time of 
Augustus, 427, n. 5 ; in a. d. 167, 497, n. 



3 ; in time of Diocletian, 473, n. 1 ; in the 

time of Severus, 497, n. 3. 
Romulus, the legend of, 26. 
Romulus Angus tulus, 495. 
Rorarii, 113, 368. 
Roscius, 288. 

Rostra Vetera, 17, 386, n. . 1. 
Rubicon (river), northern boundary of 

Italy, 257, n. 4. 
Rufinus, 492. 

Rupilius, P., in the Servile war, 180. 
Rutilius, Lupus, P., consul, 236, n. 



S. 

Sabellians, 5, 10. 

Sabine virgins, rape of, 27. 

Sabini, 5. 

Sacred mount, 57. 

Sacred spring, 93, n. 3. 

Saguntum, 133. 

Salii, 36. 

Sallust, 218, n. 1. 

SalOna, 487. 

Salvius, leader of the slaves, 226. 

Samnites, origin of, 5; their migrations 
into Campania, 93 ; attack Teanuni, 95 ; 
war with the Romans, 95 ; second war 
with the Romans, 97 ; G. Pontius defeats 
the Romans, 98; treaty rejected by the 
Roman senate, 99 ; peace. 100 ; third war, 
100 ; defeat, 101 ; peace, 102. 

Samnium, 5. 

Sardinia, geography of, 8 ; taken from Car- 
thage, 128. 

Saturnalia, 33, n. 1. 

Saturnian metre, 400. 

Saturninus, tribune, 227 ; his laws, 227 ; re- 
elected tribune, 228 ; declared a public 
enemy, 229 ; his death, 229. 

Scaurus, iEmilius, president of the senate, 
217, 238. 

Scipio, Gnasus, sent to Spain, 135; his 
death, 147. 

Scipio Africanus Major, P. Cornelius takes 
command in Spain. 147 ; his success, 148 ; 
crosses to Africa. 148 ; consul, 152 lands 
in Africa, 153 ; defeats Hannibal, 154 ; his 
triumph, 154 ; prosecuted, 190 ; his death, 
190. 

Scipio Africanus Minor, elected consul, 
170 ; takes Carthage, 171 ; sent to Spain, 
177 ; takes Saguntum, 118 ; favorable to 
reform, 201 ; takes up the cause of the 
Italians, 207 ; his death, 207. 

Scipio Asiaticus, L. Cornelius, defeats An- 
tiochus, 162: prosecuted, 190. 

Scipio Barbatus, L. Cornelius, 101, n. 

Scipio Naslca opposes Tiberius Gracchus, 
205. 

Scipionic circle, 193. 

Scitum, 64, n. 2. 

Script ura, 61, n. 4 ; 182, n. 8. 

Sejanus, ^Elius, 442. 

Semitic, 9, n. 3. 

Sempronian laws, 209. 

Sempronius, consul, 136. 

Senate, its origin, 19 ; its number, 88 ; 
vacancies, 88 ; filled by censors, 88 ; 
ex-magistrates admitted to the senate, 



514 



1KDEX. 



88, n. ; place of meeting, 88, h. ; how 
summoned, 88, n. ; how business was 
brought before the senate, 88, n. ; its 
original powers, 89 ; its veto power, 85, 
n. ; the centre for the new nobility, 89 ; 
it rules the republic, 89 ; its number in- 
creased, 418, n. 4. 

Senators, how chosen in the regal period, 
19 ; selected by the censors, 88 ; their in- 
signia, 88, n. ; how they ranked, 88, n. ; 
seats at the public games reserved for 
them, 88, n. ; how senators were notified 
of a meeting of the senate, 88, n. 

Senatores pedarii, 88, n. 

Senatus consultum, 83, n. 5. 

Seneca, 448. 

Serdores, 22. 

Septimius Severus, emperor, 480. 

Sertorius, victories in Spain, 264 ; assassi- 
nated by Paperna 4 264. 

Servile war in Sicily, first 180 ; second 226. 

Servilius, Gajus, 235. 

Servius Tullius, king of Borne, 30 ; his re- 
form of the constitution, 22. 

Seven hills of Rome, 15, n. 3. 

Severus, Alexander, 481. 

Severus, Septimius, 480. 

Sextius, L., first plebeian consul, 81. 

Sibyl, 33 ; Sibylline books, 38. 

Sicily, geography of, 8 ; invaded by the 
Romans, 120 ; province, except the terri- 
tory of Syracuse, 128 ; governed by a prae- 
tor, 123 ; all Sicily a province, 147 and 
181, n. 3. 

Sicinius Dentatus, 69. 

Sidicini, 95. 

Silo Q. Pompaedius, 235, 236. 

Slaves, 180, n., 225. 

Slavery, increase of, 179. 

Socii, 110, 211, 231. 

Solarium, 185, n. 

Soleae, 405. 

Soli, afterwards Pompejop51is, 275, n. 3. 

Spain, two provinces in, 181. 

Spanish wars, 174 ff . 

Sparta, 158. 

Spartacus, leader of the gladiators, 265 ; 
lays Italy waste, 266 ; his defeat and 
death. 266. 

Spolia opima, 28. 

Stilicho, 492, 497. 

Stipendium, 171, n. 6 ; 183, n. 

Stola, 406. 

Sulla, G. Cornelius, his life, 241 ; praetor, 
241 : serves as quaestor in the Jugurthine 
war, 221 ; serves in the Social war, 236 ; 
consul, 241 ; contest with Marius, 242 ; 
his legislation, 243 ; leaves Rome for the 
East, 243 ; his victories in Greece, 250 : 
makes peace with Mithridates, 250 ; his 
return to Italy, 251 ; defeats his oppo- 
nents, 253 ; annihilates the Samnites, 
253 ; proscribes his opponents, 254 ; ap- 
pointed dictator, 256 ; his legislation, 
257 f . ; date of 259, n. 4 ; his death, 260. 

Sulpicius, P., tribune, 242 ; his legislation, 
242. 

Sunday, 502, n. 1. 

Suovetaurilia, 24 2 n. 4. 

Syphax and Scipio, 148. 



Syracuse captured, 145 ; a Roman province, 

283, n. 3. 
Syria, condition of, 156 ; becomes a Roman 

province, 282. 
Syrio-^Etolian war, 161. 



Tabella, 402, n. 4. 

Tabularium, 199, n. 1. 

Tacitus emperor, 482. 

Tacitus, historian, 8, n. 

Tarentia, wife of Cicero, 287, n. 1. 

Tarentum, 104 ; falls into the hands of the 

Romans, 108 ; captured by Hannibal, 149 ; 

recaptured by the Romans, 150 ; treaty of 

Tarentum, 353. 
Tarquinius Priscus, 21. 
Taxation on public land, 61 ; evaded by 

patricians, 61 ; Romans exempt from 

taxes, 145 ; in the provinces, 182, 8, 209 ; 

system under Caesar, 338, n. 1 ; under 

Augustus, 420, and n. 5 : under Constan- 

tine, 489 ; taxes remitted, 467. 
Tarquinius Superbus, 30, 45, n. 1 
Teaching, method of, 401. 
Telamon, battle near, 131. 
Temple of Diana, 18 ; of Jupiter Capitoll- 

nus, 18 ; history of, 300, n. 1. 
Tempi um, 37. 
Teutones, 221, 222. 
Thapsus, 334. 
Theatre, 413. 

Theodosius emperor, 492, 497. 
Thurii, 155, n. 1. 
Tibernae, 17, n. 6 ; 386, n. 1. 
Tiberius, 440 ; death of, 443. 
TheodQnc, king of the Ostrogoths, 496, n. 3. 
Ticinus, skirmish on. 136. 
Tigranes, king of Armenia, 277 ; defeated 

by Lucullus, 278 ; submits to Pompejus, 

281. 
Tigr3nes the Younger, 282. 
Tirocinium, 289, n. 1. 
Tities, 15. 
Titus emperor, 454. 
TivQli, 3. 
Thermae, 407. . 
Toga, 404; picta, 181, n. 2 ; proetexta, 288, 

n. 2 ; pura, 288, n. 2 ; purpurea, 181, n. 

2 ; virllis, 288, n. 2. 
Tolosa (captured), 222. 
Trades, 398. 

Trajanus, M. Ulpius, emperor, 458. 
Transfugw, 21, n. 5. 

Trasi menus, Lake, Romans defeated, 137. 
Trebia, battle of, 136. 
Treves, 486 n. 2. 
Triarii, 367 ff . 
Triarius, 279. 
Tribes, meaning of the word, 15, 18, n. 8 ; 

assembly of, 58, n. 3 ; 64 ; number of, 97, 

100. 
Tribunes, their original powers, 58 ; how 

elected, 58, n. 3 ; elected in the plebeian 

assembly of tribes, 64 ; number increased, 

66 ; degraded by the laws of Sulla, 257 ; 

their powers restored. 268. 
Tribunes, military, 370, and n. 10. 
Tributum, 56, n. 3 ; 76, n. 1. 



MAY 1 3 1949 



INDEX. 



515 



Triumph, 181, n. 2. 
Triumvirate, first, 304 ; second, 348. 
Triumviri sent to Athens, 67. 
Tullianum, 18, and n. 1 ; 221, n. 2. 
Tullus Hostilius, king of Rome, 30. 
Turmce, 372. 
Twelve tables, 67. 
Tyndaris, battle of, 122. 
Tyrants, thirty, 482. 

U. 

Ulpian, the jurist, 481. 
Umbria, geography of, 4. 
Umbrians, 10. 
Umbo-Sabellians, 10. 
Utica, defended by Cato, 334. 



Vada Sabata, 155. 

Vadimo, Lake, defeat of the Etruscans, 99; 

defeat of the Gauls, 103. 
Valens emperor, 491. 
Valentinian emperor, 491. 
Valerio-Horatian laws, 83. 
Valerian emperor, xxvii. 
Valerius, M\ 57. 
Valerius Corvus, 78, n. 
Valerius Poplic51a. 51 ; his laws, 52. 
Vallis Jfurcia, 18, n. 2. 
Vandals plunder Rome, 494, 495. 
Vandalusia, 493. 
Varian prosecutions, 238. 
Varius, Q., tribune, 238. 
Varronan era, 27, n. 1. 
Varus, Q., defeated by Arminius, 436. 
Vatia, P. Servilius, carries on war in Isau- 

ria, 272. 
Vectigal, 61, n. 6; 182,8. 
Veji, conquest of, 75. 
Yetites, 369, 372. 
Veneti defeated by Caesar, 310. 
Venice, 494. 



Ventidius, 355, n. 1. 

Ver sacmm, 93, n. 3. 

Vercellse, battle of, 224. 

VercingetSrix defeated by Caesar, 312 f. 

Vergil, 400. 

Verres, 261 ; praetor in Sicily, 268 ; his 

exactions, 270 ; his trial, 271 ; value of 

plunder, 262, n. 
Vespasian, 452. 
Vestal virgins, 36. 
Vesta, 34 : temple of, 44. 
Vestinians, 5. 
Vesuvius, Mount, eruption of, 4, n. 4; 455; 

battle of, 96. 
Veto of the tribunes, 59. 
Via Appia, 111 : Emilia, 111 : Cassia, 111 ; 

Flaminia, 102, 111, 129, n. 3. 
Via sacra, 17 and n. 4. 
Vicarii, 489. 
Vici, 14, n. 1. 
Visigoths, 402 and n. 1. 
Vicus Scelerdtus, 45, n. 1 ; Tuscus, 21, n. 4. 
Viriathus, 176. 
Virgil, see Vergil. 
\irginius, 69. 
Vitellius emperor, 451. 

W. 

Wallia, 493. 

War, declaration of, 86, n. 1. 

Weapons, defensive and offensive, 370 

Westgoths, 492. 

Writing, materials for, 401. 



Zama, battle at, 154. 

Zanthippus, 123. 

Zeno, Eastern emperor, 495. 

Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, 482. 

Zeugma, 319. 

Ziela, battle at, 332. 

ZonSras, 116a. 



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